Free The Hollow (Rose of the Dawn Series Book 2) by Ily Maguire

up.
    “What is it?”
she barks.
    “Aegis has been
taken. They’re gone,” a male voice on the other end is loud enough for me to
hear across the room.
    Once again, Dr.
Flint flips over the tablet and hangs up the phone. She storms around the desk
at me.
    “Take her away!”
She yells. She is angry.
    The door opens
and someone pulls me backward out of the room and then pushes me down the
hallway. My mind flashes. I see papers strewn on the floor. We roll over medical
records of patients long gone and forgotten. The walls are back to being moldy
and stained. Discolored.
    The nurse puts a
hand on my good shoulder.
    “Jenny?” I
whisper, hoping it’s her.
    “You can’t let
on that you know me,” she whispers back. I don’t turn around. I would know her
voice anywhere.
    “How come you’re
here?”
    She doesn’t
answer immediately, but pushes me past the patient rooms, through a metal gate,
down another hallway. We’re not going the same way we came.
    “Where are you
taking me?”
    She pushes me
into an elevator and the door closes behind her. She presses a button and I
can’t tell if we’re going up or down.
    “We can talk in
here, but only for a few minutes. Another attendant has turned off the monitors
for me,” she speaks quickly.
    “But what about
my palm?” I look down, but the implant was in the other hand. The hand that has
been replaced. The tracer must be somewhere in or on my new arm.
    “I was moved
from your house here to attend to Tithonus and spy on Rejuvenation Industries.
I was hired as his personal nurse, though I suspect Dr. Flint has some idea who
I am by now.”
    “If you’re with
the Imperial Bead, then were you spying on my family?”
    “No. Not at all.
I am with the Imperial Bead, but your father knew what I really was. He knew I
had been awaiting an assignment.”
    “Does he know
that I’m here?” Maybe he knows I’m alive.
    She shakes her
head. “That isn’t important now. You just have to get out of here.”
    “Me? What about
you?”
    “I can take care
of myself. You need to go.”
    “But how?”
    “Can you move
your legs?” She pulls the canvas straps restraining my ankles.
    “I can.” I can,
but they’re heavy.
    She takes my
clothes out from somewhere beneath the gurney. As fast as she talks, she pulls
the pants on up over my legs and peels the gown away from my body.
    My arms
instinctively cross my chest. I’m naked. The coldness of the elevator gives me
goosebumps. My bionic arm is surprisingly warm. It presses awkwardly against my
skin.
    Jenny pulls the
shirt on over my head, but rips the sleeve off the one arm so it can fit
without me having to coordinate its movement.
    The doors open.
We’re in the basement. I think we’re near the tunnels. It smells like sulfur
and it’s damp.
    “You need to
follow the tunnels to Leland,” Jenny orders. “You have to tell him the time to
leave will be soon so they need to finish digging.”
    Finish digging?
What is she talking about? She helps me to my feet.
    “Finish digging?
Digging what? How do you know he’s down there now? Why can’t you come with me?”
She holds me up until I can hold up myself.
    “I brought
Tithonus down, but I have to check into my station. Just tell Leland.”
    “About the
digging.”
    “Yes.” She
pushes me out of the elevator. My legs shake, but hold me up.
    “Digging to
where? Has he found a way out?” My mind races with possibility.
    Jenny doesn’t
answer before letting the elevator doors close behind her and I have to figure
out which way to go.
    Which way do I
go and what did she mean about the digging?
    To the right is
a faded blue sign with rusty white letters that says MORGUE.
    I go left.
    My feet are still
bare and there’s no avoiding the puddles. The entire tunnel is wet.
    Something
scurries in front of me and I freeze. A rat. It’s mangy black fur and long pink
tail, even in this darkness, a dead giveaway. It reaches the wall and blends
into it. It echoes off into