Hunter’s head ached. If Tristan had been five, then her brother had basically been a secret agent since he was nine. Hunter rewound her memory, trying to bring up any time her brother had disappeared. She didn’t find anything but more aching.

The hallway finally ended, leading to a door, then a stairwell. They descended, Michael taking the lead in case someone was waiting for them.

When they got to the next floor, there was thankfully no one in sight. Dan and K both sighed with relief. But Tristan and Thomas seemed to be even more on edge.

“Holding.” Tristan whimpered.

Thomas put a hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her forward. “Let’s keep moving.”

On either side of the hallway, the walls were lined with solid metal doors at regular intervals. Judging from Tristan’s reaction, Hunter guessed that there were kids, ranging all ages, behind the doors.

“Should we break them out?” Michael asked, gesturing to the nearest door.

Thomas grimaced. “We can’t.” He said it like the words physically hurt him. “There’s no way we can secretly transport hundreds of people.”

“Hundreds?” K’s face paled. He started shaking and his ears, along with a tail, materialized.

“Most of them will be sent back.” Tristan offered. “Only a small percentage are deemed usable.”

“11%, right?” Hunter said absentmindedly as she scanned the different doors for signs of their occupants.

“Yes.” Thomas answered, a bit of fear in his voice.

Hunter turned back to the group and saw different mixes of surprise and fear on everyone’s faces.

“How did you know that?” Lucas asked.

Hunter shrugged, trying to brush it off. “I probably overheard Thomas mention it at some point.” But in her mind, she was scared, too.

Ever since they’d left the school, she’d been saying things she had no recollection of knowing. And her head kept aching.

“We should keep going.” Thomas quickly changed the subject. “There won’t be anyone in these rooms unless they were filled to capacity.”

They moved down the hallway, Michael in the lead, but Thomas leading, until they reached another stairwell. They descended, then Thomas held up a hand to stop them. He made a motion with his hand of two fingers walking, then held them up for the number two.

Dan vanished from behind Lucas and appeared beside Thomas. He pointed to the right and held up four fingers. He then met Hunter’s eyes and nodded.

Jasper! Hunter wanted to push past everyone and open the stairwell door, but she knew that was a bad idea. They had to be stealthy.

Even still, every moment they waited with Thomas’s ear to the door felt like an eternity.