at any moment. He'd done some pretty major magic for someone who'd been starved for two days.
"Mase, get the cuffs," I said. Without turning his back on the rest of us, Mason took a few steps back toward the box where our captors had kept their stash of flex-cuffs. He pulled out three strips of plastic and then something else. With a questioning glance at me, he held up a roll of duct tape.
"Perfect," I said.
We bound our captors to the chairs. One had remained conscious, but we knocked him out too and then put duct tape over all their mouths. They'd eventually come to, and I didn't want them making any noise.
After releasing Mia and Eddie, the five of us huddled together and planned our next move. Christian and Eddie could barely stand, but at least Christian was aware of his surroundings. Mia's face was streaked with tears, but I suspected she'd be able to take orders. That left Mason and me as the most functional in the group.
"That guy's watch says it's morning," he said. "All we've got to do is get outside, and they can't touch us. As long as there are no more humans, at least."
"They said Isaiah was gone," said Mia in a small voice. "We should just be able to leave, right?"
"Those men haven't left in hours," I said. "They could be wrong. We can't do anything stupid."
Carefully, Mason opened the door to our room and peered out into the empty hallway. "Think there's a way outside down here?"
"That'd make our lives easier," I muttered. I glanced back at the others. "Stay here. We're going to check out the rest of the basement."
"What if somebody comes?" exclaimed Mia.
"They won't," I assured her. I was actually pretty sure there was no one else in the basement; they would have come running with all that racket. And if anyone tried to come down the stairs, we would hear them first.
Still, Mason and I moved cautiously as we scouted around the basement, watching each other's backs and checking around corners. It was every bit the rat's maze I remembered from our initial capture. Twisted hallways and lots of rooms. One by one, we opened each door. Every room was empty, save for the occasional chair or two. I shuddered, thinking that all of these were probably used as prisons, just as ours had been.
"Not a goddamned window in this whole place," I muttered when we'd finished our sweep. "We've got to go upstairs."
We headed back toward our room, but before we got there, Mason caught hold of my hand. "Rose ..."
I stopped and looked up at him. "Yeah?"
His blues eyes- more serious than I'd ever seen them- looked down at me regretfully. "I really screwed things up."
I thought about all the events that had led to this. "We screwed things up, Mason."
He sighed. "I hope ... I hope when this is all done, we can sit down and talk and figure things out. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you."
I wanted to tell him that that wasn't going to happen, that when he'd disappeared, I'd actually been on my way to tell him things wouldn't be better between us. Since this didn't seem like the right time or place to bring up a breakup, I lied.
I squeezed his hand. "I hope so too."
He smiled, and we returned to the others.
"All right," I told them. "Here's how it's going to be."
We quickly hashed out a plan and then crept up the stairs. I led, followed by Mia as she tried to support a reluctant Christian. Mason brought up the rear, practically dragging Eddie.
"I should be first," Mason murmured as we stood at the top of the stairs.
"You aren't," I snapped back, resting my hand on the doorknob.
"Yeah, but if something happens- "
"Mason," I interrupted. I stared at him hard, and suddenly, I had a brief flash of my mother that day when the Drozdov attack had broken. Calm and controlled, even in the wake of something so horrible. They'd needed a leader, just like this group did now, and I tried as hard as I could to channel her. "If something happens, you get them out of here. Run fast and run far. Do not come back without a herd of guardians."
"You'll be the one who gets attacked first! What am I supposed to do?" he hissed. "Leave you?"
"Yes. You forget about me if you can get them out."
"Rose, I'm not going to- "
"Mason." I again envisioned