This Is Not The End.

Chapter 42

"Now would be a great time to wake up," I said to Harry, turning corner after corner as the air began to clear. I could taste the sweet freedom as the air cleared. As we ran, I tried to think of anything else to take my mind off Beck and Kai, and the kiss. That was one thing I didn't want to think about just yet.

I thought about the tiles, and the grey walls, and the doors. None of the doors were right – I needed something grand and high-tech, something that screamed 'EXIT THIS WAY' like an expensive fire escape, which it was. I strained my ears for any sound of Jack and Cara or the other kids, but I found no one. It was just me and Harry stumbling down corridors as we tried to make sense of the maze.

SWORD hadn't made it easy for me. It was like they'd anticipated our revolt and made every corner identical to the last. I was better than they were, though, and at every turn, I marked an X on the wall with my knife to make sure I didn't double back.

Harry began to cooperate with me more as I found myself barrelling towards the exit. The metallic shine seemed to radiate from around the corner like my own holy grail, and when I turned the corner, I found myself stunned into standing by the open door ahead of me. The sunlight shot through the dark tunnel and ricocheted off the walls, hitting me dead in the eyes and making me throw my arm up to filter the rays.

"We're here, Haz," I heard myself say, "One bit more,"

"Skye...?"

"Yup. Now get your ass moving, I've carried you for too long,"

I didn't seem to motivate him as much as I wanted to, but he tried to take a bit more of his weight off my side as he limped towards the light. I could just about make out his irises through his squint.

Sweat beaded down my forehead as the heat hit me in a wave. Attacked at all angles, I pushed on. Away from the fire and into the light. This was my survival, this was the very essence of my being, and it was coming.

The chaos outside was worse than that of the inside.

"Skye!" someone shouted from the flames and shots which tore at the walls. It was hard to hear her over the screams of orders being thrown from all around from just outside the barbed wire fencing, but she soon made herself clear by forcing me to focus on her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Ariadne, adjusting my grip on Harry subconsciously. It was hard to recognise her beneath the blood and bruises.

"You're alive," she breathed, trying to mask her surprise. "Your brother is alive..."

"That was the plan,"

She looked around. My eyes latched on a half-human, half-wyvern boy of nineteen who lay dying in the rubble, a pool of crimson blood spreading gently around his arm, which I noticed had been cut off at the shoulder. I stepped forward to help him, but Tams held me back.

"I need to get you out of here," she said. Her perfect hair stuck out over her dark eyes but illuminated the hatred behind them. I studied her expression, and my stomach churned. "Come on, your father will want you alive,"

"Where is he?" I asked, stepping back. "How do you know him?"

"Come on, Skye, you're not stupid," she raised her eyebrows at me, "Your father was more than just a low-ranking scientist,"

"My father's SWORD," I said, "He's not a scientist,"

"You're right there," she said, "He's one of the many heads of the hydra. He's higher up than I am, which is why I have to keep you alive."

She grabbed my arm and made me walk with her, her manicured claws digging into my skin. When I tried to pull away, she merely drew blood with her nails and didn't even look at me to acknowledge it.