Not good. Not good at all.
"Are you eavesdropping on a general?" Uncle Jin demanded in Elena's ear, making her jump.
Guilt flickered over her face.
"You are!" Uncle Jin exclaimed in outrage. "Elena!"
For once, Elena was grateful she couldn't respond. She knew what she was doing was dangerous. But look—hadn't she learned something important?
"If she really is connected to the Phoenix on more than just a surface level, it could affect our plans," Ajix was saying.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Keep her close. We might be able to use her against the Phoenix later."
"And if Kai discovers her identity is problematic?"
"Throw her to the exalted one’s mercy. They can deal with the Phoenix's wrath."
Elena ignored the kernel of hurt that took root at Fyr's murmured agreement. She held still as they moved away, their voices fading.
Only after a long time had passed did Elena peek below. Seeing she was alone, she lowered herself to sitting, dangling her legs over the edge. "What do we do now, Uncle Jin?"
Her cover was compromised. It was only a matter of time before she was discovered. Either by the generals or Kai.
"For now, we'll stick to the plan and see if we can buy some time. Your aunt's getting close. I can feel her. It won't be long now."
"That's a relief," Elena said, climbing to her feet.
Movement down the passageway she'd come from had her nearly slipping into the crevasse. She caught herself, darting in the opposite direction before squirming into and through a tiny burrow hole to the adjacent passageway.
Several twists and turns later, Elena realized she was hopelessly lost.
"Uh oh."
"Uh oh? What uh oh? What does that mean?"
Elena turned in a circle, finding nothing familiar about the passageway she was in. "I may be a tad lost."
"You’re just like Kira. Always getting into trouble the moment I take my eyes off you."
Elena pursed her lips, battling the urge to thank him for the compliment. Something told her he wouldn't appreciate the sentiment.
"Can you find me a route back to the main cavern that doesn't involve retracing my steps?" Elena asked.
Mostly because she didn't quite remember how she got there. And also because she didn't want to run into whoever had been following her.
"No," Uncle Jin admitted grimly. "You're not on any of the maps my worker bees surveyed."
"Worker bees? Are they part of the spawn army you were talking about?"
"They're a little bit more basic than my spawn. Think of them like mindless drones whose only job it is to help me survey enemy territory," Uncle Jin explained. "Right now, I'm not picking up your bio signal. As far as my scanners are concerned, you're nowhere within a twenty mile radius of me."
Elena fell quiet. The thought of her uncle not being able to track her a horrifying one.
"I think it has something to do with the cavern system," Uncle Jin continued.
"That could be useful to us," Elena said, trying to look on the bright side. "Not right now of course. But later."
