"Dana, wake up!" Gillian nudged the motionless woman gently, but she reacted sluggishly. "We need to move—the humans are excavating the collapsed hallway."

Dana was too weak to move, and Gillian bodily picked her up, carrying her to a dark corner.

"I'll stay with Dana; you two get the others away from here and let them do their job. Hide the blood trail in the corridor with rubble; they cannot find her here. Tell them I took off on my own and the tunnel collapsed before you were able to follow me. Buy us time."

Elissa nodded, moving out into the corridor but hesitated before leaving.

"I'll bring her more blood, and it will help, but we need to get..." she paused before glancing at Colt and then avoiding her eyes.

She didn't have to finish the thought, since Gillian grasped her meaning immediately. Dana needed a live donor; it would work three times as fast and maybe stop her from slipping into a coma.

"Do what you need to do," she said, and Elissa was already out the door before she could speak again.

"Colt?" the human hesitated, and their eyes met across the darkened room lit only by their discarded flashlights and Gillian's phone.

"Thank you, and when this is all over, we will leave," she said with sincerity and regret. Colt nodded and moved out into the corridor.

***

They had barely finished concealing the last drops of blood when the mini excavator busted through the rubble. They wiped the dirt from their faces without a word and made their way toward the men streaming in from outside.

Boss got past the excavator first, and his gaze fell on them before searching the empty corridor. Colt didn't appreciate having to lie to him, and although she didn't know how to live with her altered perception of reality where the monster from the movies were real, she couldn't betray Gillian's trust.

Why? Because the woman hiding behind them in the shadows, holding the broken body of her friend, hadn't changed. Just her perception of these women had altered irrevocably. Yes, they lied, but she'd lie in their stead if she were in their shoes.

Too much honesty resided in her soul to pretend otherwise.

Their world had to remain hidden. How it was even possible in this day and age eluded her, but she understood their reasoning. Had she encountered their kind before and didn't know it? How many of them were there? She still struggled to wrap her mind around it, and a small part of her refused to accept what she saw.

"Where are Dana and Beaumont?" He asked, jolting her mind back to the present, and she glanced at Elissa, noticing the challenge in those sharp eyes.

Speak now or forever hold your peace, that look said, and she chose not to speak. The ease with which it was possible to set a snowball into motion spoke nothing of the destruction might wreak once released, and even as she met Detective Boss' eyes, she knew this would not be the first or the last lie she told him. He would not understand her choice; she didn't either.

"Dana isn't here, but Louise died in this horrid place. Gillian got a call when we arrived, the reception was poor, and she went outside. The corridor collapsed, and we don't know what happened," Elissa lied shamelessly, and they watched as Boss grew still.

"You allowed her to go off on her own?" The very quietness of his voice alarmed them.

"We had already cleared the area and didn't expect the roof to collapse. The structure seemed solid," Elissa said, and he frowned at her.

"Why were you here without permission or backup?"

"We were following a lead, and there were three of us. The odds of that bit of information panning out seemed too slim to warrant bringing out a team," Colt backed her up, feeling like she had just dug her own grave and started burying herself.

"Do you think he got Gillian too?" Boss asked, not really expecting an answer from them.

"Let's get out of this building and call her before we panic, sir," Elissa said practically, and he frowned at her.

"Come, let the medics see to you, and we'll find Dana and Gillian," Boss sounded more confident than he looked.

With their heads down, they made their way past him and into the hallway. There was no way Gillian would be able to receive the call, which would set everyone in a panic, but she dared not say anything.

He returned from outside with a thunderous frown.

"She's not picking up," he said, and they lowered their heads. "Alert all units," he ordered one of the others and glared at them. "Go home, and get some rest. We will inform you if we find out anything."

"We're fine and will help with the search," Elissa offered.

"No." The finality of his tone boded ill for them, and with a nod, they obeyed, walking outside to get the car.

"What now?" Colt asked, shivering.

"We do what we were told to do," Elissa said with a shrug.

"We're wasting manpower," Colt muttered.

"Do you want to go back and tell Detective Boss where to find Dana and my sister?" she asked, and Colt shook her head.

"Why do you trust me not to go home and do something stupid like tell someone?"

"Your code of honor won't allow it," Elissa said, unlocking the car and getting inside.

* * *

It was dawn again before Elissa deemed it safe to return to Gillian and Dana. She didn't protest when she discovered Colt outside their building, especially since the human had the foresight to bring a minivan.

"We need to go pick someone up first," she conceded to Colt's presence, made her way to the passenger side, and got in.

"Dare I ask who?" Colt asked.

"An old friend." She was reluctant to reveal the truth, not knowing how the detective might react.

They didn't speak much as she directed Colt to the bus terminal, where a middle-aged woman awaited them with a single expensive-looking leather case and a handbag draped over her arm. Seeing that familiar face warmed her heart, and she walked right up to her old friend without hesitation.

***

"Nana," Elissa greeted the stranger with genuine fondness, and Colt frowned.

They were so damn good at acting human that she struggle to determine when it was an act and when it wasn't.

"Miss Drake," the woman greeted with prim and proper correctness.

Even though her gray eyes never once wandered in Colt's direction, she was being observed with something aching to hostility.

"She knows Nana," Elissa said without fanfare, walked up to this "Nana," and hugged her tightly. The woman relaxed into her embrace and returned the gesture with a warmth Colt didn't expect.

She looked like one of those women who were once a beauty queen or one of those affluent upper-class ladies from the fifties that you so often saw in movies with an air of grace and proper carriage.

When she spoke, it was even more apparent, her well-bred tones cultured and controlled.

After what had to be a long trip, she looked pristine. Not a hair was out of place on her perfectly coiffed blond head, and not a single crease marred her two-piece linen suit.

Was she one of them? Colt wondered, but then again, something seemed different. Especially the respect and diffidence in Nana's voice. Did she work for them? She dared not ask—Elissa was not as approachable as Gillian.

"Princess," Nana curtsied when Elissa released her, and Colt had to close her mouth with a snap. Princess? They had to be kidding?

"Adeline, this is detective Colt. She'll be going with us." Something in the tone of Elissa's voice touched on resigned amusement.

So, her name was not Nana? Then this had to be the Nanny, dear heavens. Were these people for real?

Adeline glanced for the longest moment, and their eyes seemed to speak a silent language. When she looked at Colt again, her expression mirrored that of her mistress.

***

"Let's go," Elissa commanded, and both of them followed in her wake. Dawn had already turned the ether a million shades of gold, and they were running out of time.

They paid the police tape no heed, the scene had been processed, and they were alone.

They found Gillian and Dana sitting in the darkness. The flashlights had long since died, but Colt put down the battery pack and got the LED lights set up.

Dana looked much stronger. Gillian, on the other hand, seemed worryingly pale.

Elissa made a tiny sound of disapproval, and Gillian looked at her with tired, mocking self-deprecation.

"I was expecting one patient, not two," Adeline scolded.

Gillian stared at her for a moment before nodding in recognition.

"Miss Adeline," she greeted with both familiarity and reserve that didn't speak of the same closeness Elissa shared with this woman.

"We better hurry; the entire police force is out looking for the two of you," Elissa said, and Gillian's forehead creased.

"Senior Detective Boss must not have been happy," she realized, and Colt raised a brow at the understatement. By now, he'd be out of his head with worry.

"Let's just say I wouldn't want to be us when you two come to light," she said, and Gillian nodded.