Eight of Hearts: The Rift Blade - Book 1

Chapter 34

"Jonas, where's Tobias?" Isaac repeated.

Jonas looked up at him, surprised by his tone. "He ran off with a keycard, why? I tried to stop him-"

"He's got his own hook," Kaya cut him off. She straightened, holding up an access card to examine it before pocketing it. "He said he was looking for someone named 'Sarah'."

"You can't just let people wander around this place unsupervised!" Isaac bolted down the stairs, vanishing in an instant.

"Hey!" Kaya called after him. "I told you to watch my brother!"

Bryce stepped forward, offering his best smile and a wink. "Don't worry, I'm watching him for you. Just leave everything to me."

Kaya gave him a scathing look that withered his smile away in an instant. "Sorry, I don't date pirates," she said. She motioned to the others, then moved forward down the stairs, leaving a disappointed Bryce alone in the stairwell.

Tobias ran aimlessly through the empty hallways, only stopping occasionally to glance into the smaller cell windows. Travelling with the group made it too difficult for him to search, so he had left on his own as soon as he had found a keycard. It allowed him to open every door he came across, but so far he had been unable to find what he was looking for.

"Sarah!" he called. "Can you hear me?!"

No response. It was strange that despite being a massive facility, there were very few prisoners. Every cell he passed was empty. It was unnerving, especially given how many of the Lost were here to rescue their loved ones.

His search led him to a multi-level prison block, with several more hallways branching away. Just how big is this place? Tobias wondered. Still no prisoners though.

He stopped by a particularly large set of doors, his attention grabbed by the large warning sign emblazoned on each.

"'High Security Wing'," he read aloud. "She could be in here." His eyes scanned several smaller warning labels before he tried the keycard. There was a long pause, then the doors swung silently inward.

He cautiously stepped through the doorway into another hallway. There were nearly a dozen more cells lining the hallway, but these cells were fully enclosed with reinforced metal. There were no windows or bars, and only a small slat that was closed off.

"Ok," Tobias muttered. "Which one is she in?"

He approached one of the doors, fighting back the growing uneasiness that made him want to turn back. "Come on, Tobias; if James thought his sister was trapped in here, he wouldn't hesitate." He squared his shoulders, then opened the slat and peeked in.

The room was pitch black. The small light that slipped through the slit barely made a difference. The cell looked empty, just like all the others he'd seen, and he was about to move on, when he realized there was a small form on the floor near the back wall. So there was someone here. It was too dark to make out any details. He would have to open the door if he wanted to confirm if it was Sarah.

He stepped back, then swiped the keycard on the reader next to the door. There was an eerie grinding noise, then the door slid slowly open.

James dashed through the hallway, heading in the direction of Shyla's last location. Even with his quick study of the map that was in the security office, he still had to reorient himself whenever he came to a junction. He nearly ran smack into Jonas, heading the other direction.

"Watch it!" Jonas yelled, barely catching James as he lost his balance. "James? What are you doing here? I thought you were on cameras. More importantly, where are your pants?"