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“There’s nothing like a good prison break,” he said, his stoic features transforming into a beaming smile. “I’m Samson Graver, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” Alex said, aware of how ridiculous their situation was. “As much as I’d like to swap life stories, we really need to get moving.”

“Agreed,” Samson said, and he pointed to Skyla. “Want me to get rid of him or can you handle it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Skyla asked, crossing her arms with a pout. The petulant gesture looked decidedly odd from Sir Oswald’s body.

“Uh, she—he’snot a problem,” Alex told Samson. “He’s not who you think he is.”

Samson seemed unconvinced. “If you say so.”

“We’ll explain everything once we’re safe,” Alex said. She ran her eyes over the performer, noting that he appeared to be standing all right, but she didn’t know what might have happened to him in the few days he’d been imprisoned. “Are you hurt or anything? Can you walk?”

He seemed puzzled, but then his expression cleared with understanding and he sent her a reassuring look. “I’m fine, love. They didn’t do anything except bore me to death.”

“Good to know,” Alex said. She reached down and retrieved the security guard’s ID tag before leading the way out of the cell and over to her classmates. She could see their mouths moving as they tried to talk to her, but no sound came out of the cell they were in. The moment she touched the ID to the panel the door unlocked, and whatever was keeping the cell soundproofed disappeared. Alex was inundated with so many exclamationsthat she glanced back up the corridor in concern, hoping the other guards wouldn’t hear the disturbance.

“Quiet!” Alex hissed at them as they made their way out of the cell. “We’re supposed to bestealthy, remember? Jeez.”

Immediately they all shut up.

“Alex, what are you doing here?” Jordan asked, his disbelief obvious. “And why are you with him?”

He pointed at ‘Sir Oswald’ and Alex motioned for Skyla to join them.

“Hey, guys,” Skyla said with a wave. “It’s me.”

They looked at her blankly, clearly wondering if Alex had managed to drug the host of the party.

“I told you we’d look after you if something went wrong,” Skyla continued, oblivious to their confusion. “Wetotallyhave your backs.”

“Skyla?” Pipsqueak gasped.

“Yeah?” Skyla answered. When Pip didn’t say anything further, she added, “I don’t have all day, Pipsqueak. What do you want?”

“Uh… nothing,” Pip said, her eyes wide. “Just… good job.”

“We’re not out of this yet,” Alex told them, and she turned to Samson who was watching their interaction with unveiled curiosity. “Our instructions are to retrieve you and escort you back to your home. If we can get out of the building, can you lead us to your place?”

“That’s a little more complicated than it sounds, love,” he said. “I’m not exactly a local.”

“You don’t live in the village?” Kaiden asked.

“No,” Samson said, eyeing him warily. “But if we can get to my juggling bag, I have a secret stash of Bubblers that will get us all out of here.”

“Where is it?” Alex asked, already knowing she wouldn’t like the answer.

“My best guess? Hopefully near the side of the stage upstairs, hidden in the corner behind the fake pot plant. That’s where I left it.”

Great. Just perfect.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Alex said, taking charge. “Skyla and I are the only ones who can be seen walking around upstairs, so we need to get the rest of you outside. There are two guards stationed at the door to the dungeon, and one left at the entrance to the mansion. If we can get you past them, then you’ll be outside and you can make a run for it up the hill. Skyla and I will meet you there after we grab Samson’s bag.”

“But Alex, you said I wouldn’t have to do anything else once we found the others,” Skyla whined. “I want to be me again. It’s tiring holding this man’s shape.”

Alex looked at her with alarm. “How much longer can you stay as Sir Oswald? He’ll be waking up any minute but he’ll still need to find some clothes, so we should have just long enough to reach Samson’s bag and get out of here. Can you handle that?”

“I don’t know,” Skyla said. “But I don’twantto stay like him anymore. I want to go with the others. I don’t like it here.”