**Luke''s POV**


    25 NOW


    I take the opportunity of being alone tomunicate with my bond group. I close my eyes, pretending to sleep in case anyonees in to check on us. I open up the mind link.


    "Robert made it through thepulsion, but he''s not doing so well. He is sleeping," I say, getting straight to the point as I don''t know how much time I have.


    "Sleep is good. If they didn''t break through, then he should be okay after some rest. I expect he will have a killer headache though," Deacon responds.


    "Yes, he definitely has a headache. I''m not sure how much time I have before we are moved, so I''m going to make this quick. I just spent some time talking with a group of teens. They told me a few of them work to bring in money to feed the rest of the group. I suspect that''s why Dillon was working at the water park. You should check ces that hire untrained teens. They also mentioned that they have a seer, but that her gifts haven''t fully awoken yet. It has to be Harper, right?"


    "I''d say so, good work Luke, I think we can count that as confirmation they still have her," D says.


    I know what he really means is that they haven''t killed her, but no one wants to verbalise that that was ever a possibility.


    "Are you okay?" Josie asks.


    "I''m fine. Just missing you, but I have high hopes this is going to be worth it. I''m just worried that Harper might give me away when she sees me," I admit.


    "She won''t, she''s a smart girl. She will know to y along if she sees you there. Just get her and Archie out as soon as you can," Mason says.


    "I will. What about Dillon?" I ask because we never really discussed him when we were nning this rescue


    mission.


    "If you can get him without risking losing Harper and Archie, then grab him too, but he is not the priority," Mace


    says.


    "Okay..." I pause when I hear footsteps outside the room. "Someone ising, I''ll update you when I can," I say quickly and shut down the link.


    I don''t have time to analyse it fully before Brent returns to the room, but I am pretty sure I sensed something off about my bond group as if they were trying to hide something from me. Their emotions seem forced, almost like they are masking something.


    "Ready to go?" Brent asks, looking down at me and casting a worried nce at Robert.


    "Yeah, I can carry him," I nod, gently moving Robert''s head from my shoulder and then getting up.


    "You know he''s dying, don''t you?" Brent asks.


    "Is that a problem for you?" I ask, unsure how to answer.


    "Not at all. If anything, it makes him more useful. He''s more likely to take chances others wouldn''t because he doesn''t have anything to lose and everything to gain. To go out fighting for a cause he believes in has to be the best way for him to go," Brent smiles.


    "This is certainly a cause he would be proud to die for," I nod.


    My words are the truth. I might not have known him long, but I fully believe that Robert would be willing to die trying to bring his granddaughter home. urrounded by teens


    "Come on then, I''ve managed to find you a couple of real beds. I hope you can handle being though, although they should all be asleep right now so you won''t have to deal with them until the morning," Brent chuckles.


    "I don''t have much experience with them. I have been locked away since I was a teen myself, but they can''t be worse than I was, "I snort. A spark of hope grows within me that Harper is one of these teens he is talking about. "You were a handful as a teen then?" he asks as I lift Robert over my shoulder. Trying to hide how concerned I am that he hasn''t woken up at being moved.


    "Oh yeah, I bounced from foster home to foster home until Cornelius found me. I was angry at the world and I made damn sure they all knew about it," grin.


    "I can imagine, you look like the type that was always causing trouble," Brent says as he grips my shoulder and ports us to what I can only describe as a mud tunnel.


    There are LED lights dug into the walls. They look like those rechargeable ones thatst a few days before they need to be recharged. They must have ess to electricity somewhere to keep these charged up.


    "What the hell is this ce?" I ask.


    "Safe


    What it is. No one can find you here. Put your friend down on the bed in here, and I''ll give you a quick tour," he says, motioning to a gap in the wall that is covered by what appears to be an old shower curtain. Brent holds the curtain back for me and I enter a small room that has been dug out of the soil. We must be in an underground location, which is clever. We never would have found them by randomly porting around.


    I look at the two beds and question his upbringing if he thinks these count as the ''real beds'' he had promised. These are nothing more than yoga-type mats on the floor with pillows and nkets. I gently lower Robert to the mat and his eyes squint open for a moment. At least he''s notpletely unconscious, but right now he is literally a dead weight if anything goes wrong here.


    "Sleep, we are safe,” I reassure him. His face rxes and his eyes close as he drifts back to sleep.


    I nce around, praying he really will be safe here whilst I go with Brent. I hate to leave him like this. He''s vulnerable whilst he sleeps this heavily, but I have to make it seem like I''mfortable here to not rouse suspicion. After all, these are supposed to be my people, who I trust over anyone else.