I freeze.

So that's what this is about.

"But," he continues. "I will grant your wish for freedom. In exchange, I need you to find your mother and the cure and bring them both back here so we can finish what we started."

I seethe where I sit, my hands shaking with rage, and it takes everything I have not to spit in his face. He's using Mom as leverage, and he knows it'll work.

"Let me guess," I growl. "Quenton is coming with us."

David smiles. "I knew you were smart, Cassy. Quenton will be checking in daily on your progress and making sure that you stay on task. You must see how important this is. I will give you tonight to talk it over with your friends, and I expect a positive answer tomorrow at breakfast."

"And if we say no?"

His smile disappears, replaced with a hard look that almost makes me gulp. "Then I guess your freedom isn't as important as you say it is. You're dismissed," he waves me off, turning in his chair to look out of the window again.

I want nothing more than to grab the stapler on his desk and hit him as hard as I can, and hopefully end this here and now, but I know that would only complicate our way out. I stand and march for the door, but David's voice stops me.

"And Cassandra?"

I turn, glancing back at him.

"Know that we are on a tight schedule. Deviation will only doom us all."

With that, I walk out and slam the door behind me, storming off to find Sparrow and Sky. I quickly find them in the recreation room, blasting music, and talking quietly. They perk up when they notice me walking over, a dark look on my face.

"What did David want?" Sparrow asks, our voices drowned out by the music.

"He knows we're trying to leave," I tell them.

The two of them share a worried glance.

"So, what happens now?" Sky asks.

I plop down beside them, picking up a book, and pretending to read. "We speed this up, that's what. He wants Quenton with us so he'll have regular updates coming in on our progress." I sigh, rubbing my temples. "He wants me to find Mom and the cure and bring them both back here."

They freeze, staring at me.

"How does he know she's alive?" Sparrow asks.

"He probably doesn't, but he sounded like she was imperative to the cure. Bryce said that she was the head of the team that was developing it years ago, so she'll be able to speed up the process for them."

"Isn't that good?" Sky asks, glancing between us. "The cure, I mean. If we have that, we can finally stop all of this, right?"

I shake my head. "Not if David gets ahold of it. Think about it, you're a powerful force that developed this mess in the first place, and you created a cure to stop it. If David gets his hands on it, anyone desperate enough for hope like that will follow him anywhere. It would be the most powerful leverage you can get."

She quiets, mulling it over. "Then we don't get it back to him."

"I'm sorry, what?" Sparrow sputters. "What would we do with it? That's a lot of power if you haven't noticed."

"We keep it out of his hands," I say. "We make sure that it's properly distributed and that Atlas is as far away from it as possible."

"We don't even know if more Atlas soldiers are running around trying to look for this thing," Sky adds. "The moment word gets out that a cure is out, they'll be all over us."

I nod. "It'll be hard, maybe impossible, but we have to try. I don't want to think what David's vision of 'world peace' might be."

"World domination probably," Sparrow grumbles.

"Then it's settled. We leave tonight," I say. "I'll let Bryce know that we have to leave earlier than planned."

"Can we trust him?" Sky asks.

"He's the only one who can help us get out," I note.

"True," Sparrow muses, rubbing his chin. "But what about Quenton?"

I glare at him. "What about him?"

Sparrow quickly dives into his reasoning before I can glare at him to death. "I mean if your dad-"

I wince, glaring harder.

"David, I mean," he quickly corrects, "wants Quenton to go with us, wouldn't he just send him after us?"

Sky nods. "That's a good point. If we leave without him, David would just send Quenton after us anyway, if not even more Atlas guards."

"We'll have to take that risk," I grunt, standing up. "I'm not gonna let some Atlas spy tell David what we're up to and try to stop us. We have to go before they notice."

I turn to walk out of the recreation room in time to see Quenton walking in, a friendly smile on his face.

"Hey, guys! What's happening?" He greets over the music.

"Nothing much," I reply, brushing past him. He watches me leave, confused, but I don't pay him any attention as he goes to sit with Sparrow and Sky.

I head down the hall towards Bryce's office and knock on the door. There are a few moments of silence before the door opens, Bryce looking surprised to see me.

"Cassandra? This is a surprise," he says, glancing around the hall.

"We need to talk," I tell him.

He scurries out of the office and gestures for me to follow him as he walks down the hall.

"What do you need?" He asks nervously, watching the scientists and guards as we pass them by.

"He knows," I drop my voice to a whisper and his eyes go wide. "We need to hurry things along. Tonight."

"I'll see what I can do," he whispers back, waving at a passing guard, and slipping me a small note before we part ways.

I wander off back towards my room and head to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me. Once I know I'm not being spied on, I take out the note and read it.

'Go at the black-out. Front door code: 572658.'

I commit the code to memory, ripping it up and flushing it down the toilet to make sure it's not found on me. Satisfied, I go back to find Sparrow and Sky, both of them talking with Quenton again in the rec-room.

"Mind if I steal them away for a hot second?" I ask Quenton as friendly as I can muster.

He glances back at the two, then shrugs. "Sure thing, we were just talking about having another round of Mario Cart before dinner," Quenton stands up from the couch and goes over to the TV to start it up.

I quickly sit with Sky and Sparrow. "We're leaving tonight, during the black-out. I got the code for the front door," I whisper to them.

"What black-out?" Sky asks.

"Bryce is on it. He'll temporarily switch off the power, giving us time to get to the surface and get out of here at last," I inform them. "Gather only what you need, and don't raise suspicion. We'll head straight for the stairs while the guards are scrambled."