In Between

Chapter Nineteen: A Series of Unfortunate Events

By the next morning, the news about the prison's lapse in security had already reached the villages in the Strip. Mel heard from her brother, Bo, that the Warriors were spreading the story that a group of unidentified teenagers had snuck into the prison to play a distasteful prank and set off the fire alarm. She told their group about this rumor as soon as they were all gathered at the kitchen table. This news came as a surprise to Kieran who was sure that he was going to be arrested since the Warriors certainly knew who he was.

"You're forgetting that the woman at the front desk never asked for proof that you were the general's son," Draven reminded him.

"Shouldn't that have been the first thing she did," Mel commented.

"What more proof did she need?" Kieran said, pointing to his conspicuous hair.

"We're extremely lucky that she didn't ask you to prove who you were because now you can deny being there," Apryl observed.

"What about the Warrior who took us to my dad's cell?" Kieran said, unconvinced. Garrett had gotten a good look at Apryl's face when he'd been treating her "faint" and he might have even realized that she was blonde. What if he had gone to the Royal Council with that information?

"Don't worry about it," Draven said. "I stunned him in the back of the head, so I doubt he's going to be testifying against us anytime soon. A side effect of those instruments is acute memory loss. I'm betting that he'll barely remember us."

"Well, that's a relief. He'll be okay though, right?" Apryl asked. She was relieved when Draven reassured her that Garrett would definitely recover with no long-term effects.

"Don't get too excited though. I'm sure the Warriors know that Kieran and I have some sort of connection to the Outsiders," Draven added, looking at Kieran from across the table. "You have to know that Declan and Shani probably told the others how we helped Apryl and Bri escape from their house."

"They didn't tell anyone about us—I know they wouldn't," Kieran said undoubtedly. He wouldn't let himself believe otherwise.

Draven had enough sympathy for his friend to refrain from insisting that he could be wrong. "Then what about Skeeves? That lowlife sold out his whole research team. He would have also told the Warriors that we're the Outsiders' accomplices," he reasoned.

Even the fearless Draven seemed moderately anxious about the situation, and Kieran didn't blame him. There was no way the Royal Council didn't at least suspect that the general's son and his best friend were involved in harboring the Outsiders. It was a miracle that the Warriors at the prison hadn't been notified before their arrival, otherwise Kieran would never have been allowed to see his father.

"Will these people will be out looking for you guys?" Apryl asked just as anxiously.

"I would assume that they've at least sent someone to Kieran's house to see if he was there," Draven said.

"My mother will know if they came looking for us, right? I have to talk to her anyway, so why don't I ask if any Warriors have been snooping around our house while I'm at it," Kieran suggested, jumping out of his chair.

He would go home and have a nice long chat with his mother about all of the sneaky things he'd been up to, starting with the portal and ending with his father's mysterious mention of the name Ezriella. The very thought of telling her what was going on gave him a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him want to throw up his breakfast. Admitting the truth about the portal in the Dark Forest had been difficult enough when Kieran's father had found out, but at least Mr. Dalhart could understand why Kieran would be curious about other dimensions. His mother wouldn't—she would only be disappointed in him for all of the trouble he'd gotten himself into.