Page 58 of A Sea of Secrets
Later, Zaney, later.
Rising to my feet, I headed back towards the service area, using the excuse that I needed the pastry Noah had, which I did. It was a necessity. On the way, I tapped the screen of my cuff, and a video began to play. There was no audio, but it was dark and whoever was filming was moving around erratically, almost like they were trying not to get caught. Maybe it wasn’t from Zach and the others after all. Was this Kayden and Ace letting me in on a secret prank on Noah?
I grinned. Those tricksy tuna fish.
Slowing my steps so I wouldn’t crash into any tables, I watched as a door I didn’t recognise opened, and then there were a bunch of people sitting on the floor, their arms tied behind their backs and looking like shit. Their faces were dirty, their hair at all angles. To my shock, I noticed how gaunt they were like they hadn’t eaten in a while. This message was definitely not from anyone close to me. Getting secret messages was suddenly not so fun anymore. Dread pooled in my gut as the video kept playing, and I froze on the spot just as a hand in the video reached out, tilting up the chin of the person closest.
No. It can’t be. No.
Zuri’s eyes stared back at me, red-rimmed and filled with fear. My sister. The screen flashed black, and then words that sent a chill down my spine filled the screen.
‘If you ever want to see your sister again, you’ll do exactly what you’re told. Expect further instructions soon. Tell no one or she dies.’
“FallonandIhadsex,” Noah stated suddenly as we made our way towards the main building. He didn’t look at me, his expressionless face was instead focused ahead of us. “Zane was involved too.”
“And you’re telling me this why?”
“I—ah—I’ve never done anything like this before?”
“Were you a virgin?” I grinned, my amusement increasing exponentially when he blushed.
“No.” He shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I have had sex before.” He groaned. “We’re in this”—he gestured between me and him—“thing.”
Fuck, the guy was uncomfortable, and I was enjoying the shit out of it. I probably should have cut him some slack seeing as he was the guy I liked most in this place. I may have calledhim a friend under other circumstances, but this shit show was far too entertaining.
“Thing?”
I wasn’t usually one for this sort of deep and meaningful bullshit but watching him squirm was too fucking good. Noah was the logical one, the cool head, and here he was stumbling over his words and blushing like a schoolgirl.
“There are a lot of things. You’re going to have to be pretty fucking specific,” I told him, turning the corner and slipping closer to the wall. Noah followed suit.
Once we’d returned from the third trial, I’d quickly found the files on my laptop had been corrupted. I’d stolen it from Master Luna before the second trial to access the security footage of the academy. As luck would fucking have it, my access to the cameras in the main building was now gone. My cuff still had limited access, but it wasn’t enough. If we were going to steal the weapon Cormac wanted, we needed to be smart. Hence the reason for my little excursion with Noah to case the main building.
“The pod thing,” he said, following into the building. We strode down the hallway, taking note of the guards, cameras, and anything else worth noting.
I shuddered, halting my steps. “I hate that fucking word.” I turned on him, pointing a finger at his chest. “Don’t ever say that fucking word to me again.”
“Done.” He nodded with his hands raised. “So, about that…”
“Whatever you do with the princess is your business,” I told him. “It’s got nothing to do with me.”
“Even though we’re in a po—group situation?”
“Even more so. You and me, we’re cool. End of story.”
We fell into a comfortable silence as we made our way through the hallways, scoping the place out and tracking the guards. The main building housed the offices of staff, theMasters and the Overseer, as well as the living quarters of the latter. Security and meeting rooms were also located here, along with the weapon Cormac was eager to get his hands on.
There were areas we couldn’t access without security codes or without the risk of looking suss as fuck, but I wasn’t too worried. We’d plan the shit out of this heist. It also helped that I was doing it with Fallon, Kayden, Noah, and Zane. I wouldn’t be caught dead saying it to their faces, but they were skilled, and I knew I could trust them.
This little scoping excursion was simply an extra precaution.
We checked out the meeting rooms first before taking a peek at the security offices. There wasn’t much we could see there, with the guards hurrying us along, but at least we got a look at where the control room was located and an idea of the number of guards posted there. It was manageable… possibly messy if we couldn’t get in during the shift change. Plus the guards at the door needed to be disposed of. Mostly a piece of cake. The only thing that frustrated me was that we couldn’t see how many guards manned the inside of the control room. That would be something we’d have to figure out on the fly. Not ideal, but again, manageable. A few knocks to the head or a cheeky stealth manoeuvre from Noah would do the trick.
We moved into the hallway that led to the Masters’ offices, passing Jeremiah’s open door and continuing to scope out the rest. When I’d broken into Master Luna’s office before, I’d gone in through the window to steal her laptop. I’d never had a chance to check out the rest of the offices like this.
Suddenly, Noah darted behind me, slipping into an alcove and hiding from the cameras and anyone who decided to walk by.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he started to undress.
