Tristan asked innocently, “Such as?”
“The location of the other three Alterants.”
“I told you they aren’t where I left them.”
“Which is a sly way to avoid either telling me a specific location . . . or admitting you don’t know where they are in here. Right?” If he’d been in the maze all the time she and Storm had searched for him, Tristan should have covered every inch by now.
“They’re in this maze.”
“Not good enough. I’m not moving until you give meeverything.And I think you know exactly where they are, so the question is, why did you bring me, since you don’t need my help to find them? If you wantmyhelp, I want the truth.”
Tristan took in a deep breath of the chilly air, which came out in a white stream. “I left them in a room with two benign spirits and enough food to hold the three for a couple weeks. That’s why I couldn’t let you leave me in the jungle. I thought they were going to die because I couldn’t get back. But when I got here, they were gone.”
She could sympathize with him better now for having used her to escape if his story turned out to be true. “Where’d they go?”
“Into a large cavern deep inside here.” The smug cockiness normally inhabiting his face had given way to a haunted look he wore too easily.
As if he was more familiar with pain than happiness.
She pushed again. “And the reason you can’t get them out of the cavern on your own is . . . ?”
“Because the Medb got here before me. Kizira found the other three Alterants and is holding them.”
Of course the Medb had found the three Alterants.
Evalle rubbed the back of her neck. “How did you find this out?”
“From the spirits of a young Civil War soldier and old man who plays checkers. They live in the chamber where I left the three Alterants. After running into dead ends in this place all day—pun intended—I returned to their chamber. That’s when the two spirits revealed themselves and told me where the Alterants were.”
“So the spirits are working with Kizira?”
He shook his head. “Not even.”
“Then how did Kizira get involved?”
“When I asked how I could find her, they said they told her to leave.”
Evalle would have enjoyed watching Kizira sent packing. “She didn’t blast them into Never Never Land?”
“This place is loaded with supernatural power that could cause a catastrophic chain reaction. Not even Kizira would want to be down here if it blew. She made them an offer. If they’d act as messengers if and when someone showed up looking for the Alterants, she and her men would leave as soon as she got what she wanted. The spirits are liaisons for now, but they don’t like her being down here.”
Evalle muttered, “I’m not so crazy about that myself. What does she want?”
“A specific Alterant.”
She waited for him to say more, but Tristan liked to feed out one small piece of information at a time. “Who does Kizira want?”
“Me.”
“She knew you were coming back for them? Does that mean she knew you’d escaped again?” Which would lead Evalle to believe that Tristan might have been playing her for sure and leading her into a trap. But it was too late to find a way out.
“No, she didn’t know for sure I would be back, not until today. I figure she’s had someone squatting here to see if I caved and told VIPER where to find the three escapees to keep them from starving to death, or maybe she thought I’d cut a deal with Macha or VIPER to trade the missing Alterants for my freedom, whichIwould never do.”
Evalle flinched at the unfair strike to her conscience. “You said Kizira didn’t know for sure that you would be back until today. How’d she find out?”
“Thanks to your friends at VIPER probably.”
She had him now. “How do you figure that?”
