Her pale face looks to be made of stone. "We're under attack. The Gandans have found us!"

I stare at her with shock and fear. What? NO! I just escaped from those monsters. This is not happening, this can't be happening! I begin to breathe quickly, panic striking. Siera, noticing my distress kneels before me and puts her hands on my shoulders. "Relax, Cleo, it's okay."

I shake my head. "No, it's not okay! Those monsters are going to kill everyone! That can't happen again! I can't go back again!" My voice is rising in pitch as I continue to freak out.

Siera looks me dead in the eyes. "No, they won't. We have an escape plan. Come with me." She stands and extends a hand. Tentatively, I grab it and she pull me to my feel pulling my along. Her two guards flank us, but a Gandan gets a lucky shot and they both fall to the ground, dead. We run together even faster, my mother's locket bounces on my chest. I am so glad that I never take it off because I could never bare to lose it.

Siera leads me towards the back wall of the cavern, but we are cut off by two Gandan Warriors, the Queen's prize soldiers. They raise their guns and I close my eyes, knowing we will surely die. The Warriors are well-trained, highly lethal, and the Queen's personal guards. I saw them kill a slave at the palace once because he didn't bow to the Queen. It was horrible...

We are saved by Max. He shoots both Gandans in their eyes then grabs my hand and pull me along, Siera by our side.

When we finally reach the back wall, there is a doorway. We rush through, Max first, then Siera, then me.

I am worrying about Kyra and Silena. I hope they make it out! I don't know what I would do if I lost more people I care about...

I find myself outside the base, back in the Underlevels. Together, we run as far as we can away from the base, and once we in a completely different part of the level, Max stops us.

"How did the Gandans find us?" He asks.

I shrug. "I have...no idea." I pant out, my pale skin pink with exertion.

"Is it possible that they tracked you, Cleo?" Siera asks.

I blink. "I suppose. I was really careful, but..." I trail off, thinking it through. My shoulders slump and my head lowers. "Probably."

Siera taps a finger to her lips. "Cleo, show me your wrist."

I raise my arm and extend my wrist towards her. She applies pressure along it until she reached my elbow. As she presses there, a hot pain shoots through my arm. "Aghh!"I exclaim.

She lifts her fingers. "Sorry! There's a tracker there. Somehow, it's been injected into you. We need to either get it out or shut it down."

"I can do it, but it'll hurt, Cleo." Max says.

I nod in affirmation. He sighs. "Okay. Sit down and give me a sec."

I sit on a step nearby and watch as Max opens his pack, pulls out a knife and a pair of thin, silver tweezers. I gulp.

He kneels before me, swabs my arm and looks me in the eye. I nod again and he quickly cuts my elbow deeply with the knife. I stifle a scream of pain and moan as he pulls out the tracker with the tweezers. He then stitches up my cut and wrap a bandage around it. "Done."

I sigh in relief as he crushes the tracker beneath his boot. Max puts a hand on my shoulder. "I'm impressed, Cleo, thank you for making my job easier." He winks at me and a strange warmth fills my chest. I smile at him shyly, wishing my hair was not in a bun so it could hide my face.

He offers me a hand up and I accept it. He hauls me to me feet and the three of us continue towards our other base. I notice that Max is still holding my hand.