Edward waved from the rover's passenger seat. Ms. Lawrence let out a sigh of relief. Lilly and Max were there. No one had stopped them. Their plan to explore the digsite was working.

  "We have one hour and thirty-nine minutes," Edward said, grabbing the rope.

  "I'll fly her down, Lilly said, eyeing Peyton.

  "I'm not sure you could lift me," Peyton said.

  "I flew Max here."

  Peyton looked shocked, her eyes widening. "Max is almost twice your weight. There's no way. How?"

  Lilly shrugged, "Adrenaline, I guess. Feels like I'm getting stronger."

  "I'm definitely faster," Max said. "There's no way I could have run up those walls a few months ago."

  Peyton glanced at the hole and back at Max.

  "I haven't noticed any change," Peyton said." I'm still not able to read General Stone's mind."

  "Well, you're old," Lilly said, happily. "That's a thing. Our bodies are getting more powerful."

  "We'll go down first. Maybe you'll see our flashlights from the bottom. " Lilly said.

  "Works for me," said Edward, securing the rope to a rover.

  "You ready?" asked Lilly, extending her hand to Peyton.

  "What happens if Edward can't get down? Who should wait for him?"

  Edward looked at Lilly, then back at Peyton. "We don't have a lot of time, Ms. Lawrence. All we can do is solve each problem as it comes."

  The truth in Edward's words left no more time for questions. Peyton reached down for Lilly's hand.

  "I need you to run. Once we're moving fast enough, you'll have to trust me," Lilly said.

  Peyton nodded and began to run, then, suddenly, they were airborne, the ground pulling away. The experience was indescribable-so much better than telepathy. Peyton began to register Lilly's thoughts. She was anxious, but the feelings were fleeting, mixed with others about never leaving Mars and never giving up flight. The last thought surprised Peyton. Did Lilly plan to stay here forever? And then she forgot about reading minds, her own, full of terror as they plunged headfirst into the dig site.

  "Slow down," Peyton screamed over the roar of air rushing by them.

  Lilly said nothing, but Peyton felt her grip tighten. And then it was over. They'd landed, safe and unscathed.

  "Let's never do that again," Peyton said, scanning up for the boys.

  "Why not. I'm pretty good at flying. Kai's a dumbass. He's got no idea what he's missing."

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Peyton thought of Kai, who was scared to death of his power, and the others, hopefully enthralled in the breakout room, unaware that their teacher was breaking every rule laid out by the people who'd brought them there.

  "You made it," said Max, walking up, his flashlight pointed at the ground.

  "Oh, thank God," Peyton said, moving to hug Max.

  "Easy there, Ms. Lawrence. This ain't my first rodeo."

  "Where's Edward?" Peyton asked.

  "About halfway, as far as I can tell," Max answered, gazing up.

  Edward was more than halfway down, the force of his body making huge gashes in the walls of the digsite.

  "Feel like I pulled the shortest straw on this one," Edward called down. "We have 75 minutes left. I should be down in five."

  "The Orb is this way," Max said, once the four of them were back together. "Follow me."

  The tunnel was narrow and barely taller than Edward. How had they known to dig here, Peyton wondered. She watched the back of Edward's head, his haircut, boyish. She'd never forgive herself if something happened to him.

  "And there she is," Max said, staring at a solid wall of light.

  Peyton walked toward the far side of the Orb and found she could go all the way around it until she was back where she belonged, still with no understanding of how the light was being produced.

  "It's a gigantic fireball," Edward said, mesmerized.

  "It's not hot, though," said Lilly, sticking her arm in.

  Without hesitation, the others stuck their arms in, too.

  Peyton pulled out a prism she'd snuck in her pocket earlier that morning and held it close to the flames. If the Orb produced white light, the waves would refract as they moved through the glass, creating a rainbow. But this light only bent into one color: light blue. She wasn't surprised. Nothing about the Orb was natural.

  "It's floating," Lilly said, sliding under the Orb, her back flat against the dirt, her nose inches away from the base of the fire, and then the Orb absorbed her as if she were a scrap of paper sitting too close to a campfire.

  Edward reacted first, falling to his knees to examine the ground. He ran his fingers through the dirt as if Mars had taken her, not the Orb.

  "Oh my God," Peyton screamed, covering her mouth.

  "What's happening, Ms. Lawrence?" Max asked.

  "It's a portal," Edward said.

  "To where?" asked Max.

  "To wherever Lilly is," Edward replied. "We have to follow her."

  "NO!" Peyton screamed, but it was too late.

  "I'm planning to survive," Edward said as he dove under the Orb and disappeared instantly.

  Max began to shake and then turned to Peyton, who stared back blankly, stunned. Later tonight, she'd face Stone and admit to disobeying orders, killing two students, and failing to do anything she'd set out to do with her life.

  "Let's go, Max. I need to get help. I'll take the blame."

  "Are they dead? Just tell me. I can handle it," Max said.

  "They're gone is all I know. I'm sorry," Peyton said, her voice shaking. "We need help."

  But Max stepped back from her as if unsure.

  "How do you know they're not dead?" he demanded hysterically. "You're just saying that because you don't know what to say."

  "They're not dead," said Alex softly.

  Peyton whipped around, the gravity of their situation worse now that Alex was involved.

  "How did you find us?" Peyton asked.

  "Let's just say it wasn't hard. The three of us are gonna see where this thing takes us. It's either that or I'll kill you," Alex said, a shard of metal gleaming in his hand.

  Peyton moved to shield Max, but Alex knocked her to the ground before she could get between them.

  "Both of you crawl under, NOW!" Alex demanded.

  Peyton glanced at Max, who nodded but then quickly turned to dash back up the walls of the dig site, spraying rocks and red dirt behind him.

  "Fuck," Alex bellowed, throwing both hands up in the air.

  "Alex, do what you want, but let me go. Something supernatural is happening. If this is a portal, Red Rock probably knows about it. Maybe they'll help us."

  "And let you tell General Stone I threatened you?"

  "Why did you follow us?" Peyton asked.

  "Because I'm not built for waiting to see how things work out. If this mission is a cover-up for something else, I plan to expose everything. But I need more information. Crawl under. Don't fight me, Peyton."

  So she didn't, and the Orb swallowed them up, leaving Max to run back to the hub and face whatever waited for him there.