29

PIERCING SCREECHES HURT MY EARS AS THE GIANT BATS descend from the
rafters, fangs bared. Dozens of agents scale the walls to meet them head on.
“Amari!” Agent Magnus’s voice snaps me out of my daze. He stands at
the edge of the stage, waving me toward him.
I run over, and he throws an arm around my shoulder. He leads me off the
stage and up the aisle toward the exit, where Director Van Helsing and a
few agents are helping people out of the auditorium. We’re almost there
when there’s an enormous crash and something massive bursts through the
wall.
A hulking gray hybrid standing upright on two legs turns to face us. Its
long snout has a pointed horn at the end. A rhino hybrid.
Magnus puts himself between it and me. “When I say go, you hightail it
outta here and don’t look back, got it?”
“Got it,” I say.
The rhino hybrid growls, its massive muscles bulging. Then it lowers its
snout and charges.
“Go,” shouts Magnus. He gives me a shove, sending me stumbling into
the seats. I whip my head around in time to see Magnus and the beast
tumble down the aisle.
Magnus is one of the best there is. He’ll be fine. I make myself believe it.
I have to get to Director Van Helsing so I can make it out of here in one
piece. But a glance through the giant hole that the rhino made in the wall
stops me cold. It’s total chaos. Dozens of hybrids—bears, panthers, gorillas
—run roughshod over the place. I mean, the agents are amazing, taking
down monsters more than twice their size, but every time one falls, another
appears out of thin air to take its place. They can barely keep up. It also doesn’t help that so many agents have to stay back to protect the
spectators Director Van Helsing is sending out of the auditorium.
I grip the Stun Stick at my waist. Shouldn’t I try to help? What would
Quinton do?
I step out into the chaos, eyes darting in every direction. Agents and
monsters move in blurs around me. Deafening roars and bonerattling growls
come at me from all directions. My fingers tremble around my Stun Stick.
I’m in way over my head.
I scream as something snatches me back into the auditorium. But it’s only
Agent Magnus, sporting a nasty bruise on his forehead. He’s furious.
“What’s the matter with you?” he shouts.
“I—I just wwanted to hhelp,” I stutter.
“This ain’t a fight for a kid,” Agent Magnus snaps. “Get over to Van
Helsing and make for the lobby. Go!”
This time I listen. Agent Magnus follows behind me just long enough to
make sure I don’t get any more dumb ideas. Then he balls his fists and I
watch his skin harden into metal. He flicks his wrist and his Stun Stick
becomes a giant ax. Flames erupt along the blades and he leaps through the
hole in the wall, back into the battle.
I reach Director Van Helsing just as he sends off the last group.
The director’s eyes dart back and forth between the battle with the bat
hybrids overhead and the fight going on in the hallway. He frowns when he
notices me, but it doesn’t last long. “Hurry and catch up with the others.”
I duck through the doorway. The agents have stopped this last group from
making a run for the elevators because a group of scarylooking gorilla
hybrids are close to breaking through the line of agents protecting the
escape route.
I recognize Elsie’s brown curls and white researcher coat in the group
and take the spot next to her. Her eyes are wide and panicked.
She nearly jumps out of her skin when I throw my arms around her.
“Oh, thank goodness,” she says. “I tried to wait for you, but Director Van
Helsing made me leave.”
“Thanks,” I say.
Elsie shrieks as a gorilla hybrid gets frighteningly near, but it’s beaten
back by a female agent with a laser whip. That was too close.
Elsie clutches my jacket. “Are we going to be okay?”
“Definitely,” I say. As soon as the word leaves my mouth, a sea of beige appears over Elsie’s
shoulder, and a wave of Wilderness Rangers from Creature Control charge
out of the lobby, each with a flaming bird perched on their arm.
“Phoenixes!” Elsie exclaims. In one synchronized motion, Wilderness
Rangers point out targets and the birds take off, colliding against hybrids
and exploding on impact. As soon as the fiery ashes hit the floor, the birds
reform and strike again. The agents use the attacks to get the advantage in
the battle, pushing the hybrids farther up the hall.
“Kids, get to the lobby!” yells an agent.
None of us need to be told a second time. A wave of relief surges through
me as we start down the hall to the bottom of the U, away from the danger. I
turn to get one last look at the fighting and freeze. A masked figure in black
sprints across the ceiling, straight toward the hybrids. Only none of the
beasts attack—if anything, they’re clearing a path. I gasp.
Moreau’s apprentice. It has to be.
The figure is down the hall in seconds, headed into the hallway leading to
the Great Vault. No one else seems to notice.
Except Dylan, who turns and gives chase.
No! What’s he thinking? But I already know the answer. This is his
chance to not only stop this, but to prove Maria isn’t a traitor.
“Amari!” shouts Elsie. “What are you waiting for?”
A terrible knot settles in my gut. “We aren’t just being attacked. I think
we’re being robbed.”
Elsie’s eyes go wide and she glances down the hall in the direction of the
Great Vault.
“You two by the door!” shouts a Junior Agent near the entrance to the
lobby. “Either come on or we’re leaving you behind!”
It’s now or never. I turn to Elsie, “Go on without me.”
“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it,” she replies. “You’ll get yourself
hurt.”
That’s what I’m afraid will happen to Dylan. I won’t let him do this
alone.
One of the agents shouts, “Hold the position! The hybrids are retreating!”
But they aren’t retreating. Not really. They’ve backed up to form a wall
in front of the Great Vault. That can’t be a coincidence. I still have on my
Sky Sprints . . .

“I know what I’m doing,” I say, and dash up the nearest wall. I keep
close to the ceiling, away from the fighting below. Someone calls my name,
but I can’t turn around. I have to get to the vault before it’s too late.
The old wooden door protecting the Great Vault is wide open. A shiver
creeps down my back. That door is supposed to be impenetrable.
I drop to the floor and run inside. The vault is a wide, dark space with
little spotlights shining down on long rows of pedestals. It reminds me of
the pedestals in our first tryout. I look around for Dylan or the intruder, but
I don’t see anyone.
“Amari!” Dylan steps into the spotlight of a pedestal. “There’s someone
else in here.”
“I saw. How did they get past the door?”
Dylan shakes his head. “It was open when I got here.”
We step farther into the vault, looking for some sign of the intruder.
“Looking for me?” a voice whispers into my ear.
I spin around to find a girl dressed in all black, backing away from me.
She fades into the shadows. “Dylan, over here!”
He’s at my side in an instant. “What happened?”
“I saw the thief,” I say with a shiver. “She was right behind me.”
Dylan points his Stun Stick out in front of him. “We know you’re in here.
You might as well come out.”
The thief snaps her fingers and all the spotlights shut off at once.
“She’s a technologist,” says Dylan. “That must be how she got in.”
“Are you two trainees going to arrest me?” she teases.
Dylan gasps.
“What?” I ask. “What is it?”
“AAmari,” he stutters. “I know that voice.”
Shouts pull my eyes to the door. Blinding overhead lights click on.
“There!” Agent Fiona calls, and a crowd of agents rushes in our
direction.
“Dylan? Peters?” says Director Van Helsing. “What on earth are you
doing in here?”
“There was a girl in black,” I say quickly.
Dylan looks sick. “Dad, it’s—”
“Above us!” someone shouts.
The girl in black races along the ceiling and the agents fire blast after
blast, but none of them even comes close. Once she reaches the hallway, she drops to the floor and pulls off her mask.
Gasps ring out from the agents around me.
Maria Van Helsing smirks and gives us a bow. Then she taps at her
transporter armband and vanishes.
Quinton was betrayed by his own partner. Knowing it’s true makes my
chest ache. Worse, that terrible thought is followed quickly by another.
“Director, where’s the Black Book kept?”
But Director Van Helsing doesn’t seem to hear me. He’s frozen in place,
staring at the spot his daughter just teleported from. A few of the other
agents dash farther into the vault. Still dazed, I follow.
Agent Fiona stops suddenly, throwing a hand over her mouth.
A pedestal sits empty.