I duck into a side passage just as a shadow crosses the junction. I keep low, moving in silence. My breath is shallow, my eyes are itchy, and my entire body aches from the bomb. I hope Prue gave these rebels my description, and they know I’m not the enemy. Being a double agent is getting harder by the day. One day, I might get a bullet in my head, and I don’t know which side the shot will come from.
A sharp pain blooms in my side. I hiss softly, pressing a hand to my ribs. Blood soaks my gloves. A piece of shrapnel is stuck in my flesh.
“Where is he?” a feminine voice asks shakily.
The girl sounds afraid.
I’m a little nervous that they brought someone unprepared to face Ender Vale. I hope I won’t be forced to save them. Ender is on to me, and I can’t keep talking my way out of this. I refuse to defect until I know my sister is safe with the Resistance. Or the regime will just use her as leverage to root me out.
I edge deeper into the ruins, pulse racing, as I keep to the shadows. There’s a half-collapsed maintenance room ahead. It could be a good hiding spot until this blows over.
I slip inside, leaving the door cracked open so I can see what is happening out there.
A second later, another explosion rocks the tunnel. The entire room shakes, and I fear the door will rip off its hinges, leaving me exposed. The sound comes from the left, where Ender and I just were, which means they’re trying to weed him out.
A growl rips through the air. One that sounds like a pack of wolves. The rebels gasp.
There seem to be about four of them from up here. Not enough to take down Ender. They would need a whole regiment to bring him in.
“It’s not real,” a voice calls. “Just the Illusionist. Keep moving.”
The door opens, and I leap back just as a lanky boy enters. His face is covered, and he approaches me cautiously, staring at where my hand clutches my side.
“Didn’t mean to hurt you, love,” he says. “Can’t say the same for your leader.”
“I’m—”
“Know who you are, Timebender,” he says. “Name’s Miles. Pleased to meet you.”
“Is Prue just telling everyone who I am?” I ask, annoyed. “What if you are captured and tortured by the Commandant?”
“Got a pair of brass balls, nobody’s getting any answers from me.”
I roll my eyes at his bravado. His voice hasn’t even broken in yet.
“What do you want?” I ask. “You can’t capture Ender. He’s too strong, and those grenades did not hurt him.”
“Planning on using you as bait,” he says. “How good an actress are you?”
“Our rules are to never negotiate with you guys,” I explain. Since he clearly knows nothing about military protocol. “Ender knows that. He won’t give in.”
“I reckon he will, for a pretty little thing like you.” He winks. “I know I would. Now come on. We don’t have much time.”
I hesitate. “What happens if he doesn’t bite? I don’t want to be fake kidnapped again. I have better things to do with my time.”
“It won’t come to that.”
He spins me around and leads me by the throat, pressing his gun to my skull.
He whistles loudly.
“I have your partner, Commandant!” he calls. “Want her back?”
Ender emerges from the smoke like a ghost. He clutches a gun in his palm, aimed at the boy.
“Let her go,” he says calmly.
“Ahh, there he is.”
