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them briskly and they began to come back to life. Raising his arms over his head, he stretched out and began to feel like he could move normally again.
    The grave circumstances he now found himself in began to sink in.
    What was he going to do?
    Steve had never come back. Should he try and make it out on his own?
    Tim knew he had to try. He couldn’t wait any longer. It would be morning soon and others would be arriving in this building for work.
    He knew it was a huge risk, but he had no choice.
    With his newly blond hair and a hooded sweatshirt, he just might have a chance to make it back to Briny Deep—and Nina.
    But would she want him back?
    Tim opened the door to the storage room and peeked outside. Then he slowly walked down the aisle of the ship’s cabin to the front. When he got to the front, he peeked out a window. There was no one out there. The room was dark again. It must still be night.
    And there was still no sign of Steve. He really wished he had his phone.
    Time to go, he thought.
    Pulling the sweatshirt up over his blond hair, he walked off the ship and headed for the elevator. Tim was just about to press the button for it, when he realized it might be better to take the stairs.
    He saw the stairwell just ahead and started heading up.
    After several minutes, he could tell this was the longest staircase he had ever climbed.
Maybe I should have taken the elevator.
    It was too late now, so he kept climbing, and climbing, and climbing. Up, and up, and up.
    Man, will this thing ever end?
    Finally, it did. And Tim found himself in the front reception area of the building. He quickly made his way outside and searched for signs of the shuttle.
    Rusty had handed him a shuttle pass while they were still onboard the ship, so he wasn’t worried about getting on the shuttle. He was more worried someone would see him and wonder what some teenager was doing out by himself in the middle of the night.
    He was also concerned about finding the shuttle station. Having traveled this route with Rusty before, he tried to remember the best way to go.
    Finally, he made it to the station and it was almost empty. One old man sat on a bench and another older couple walked hand in hand on the other side of the room. Thankfully, he was able to slip onto a shuttle without being seen.
    Tim sunk down into a chair in the back.
    He was on his way back to Briny Deep.

Chapter 10
Nina’s Choice
    Nina paced nervously back and forth.
    She wanted to listen to her parents’ conversation downstairs but was afraid what else she might learn. Moments ago, she had accidently heard them talk about the night Tim, Max, and Emily had disappeared. They had said she was there when it happened?
    But, how could that be?
    The last thing she remembered was talking to Tim at school. He was in a hurry to get somewhere—but she couldn’t remember where exactly.
    And then he was gone.
    She should have followed him. Wait . . . that sounded familiar. Did she follow him? The whole day was a huge blur to her. It almost felt like it had been wiped away from her memory.
    Maybe she could have saved them if she had told them the truth. But she had agreed to keep the secret from her friends—that they were from Earth. Her parents had explained to her what a terrible place Earth was and how much Indus needed them to keep growing its population. It made sense to her. And she didn’t want them to ever leave. But lying to her friends had not been easy. Acting like she didn’t know the truth was hard, especially when she started to develop feelings for Tim—strong feelings. And when all the kids started disappearing, she knew what was happening—Earth was coming back to get them.
    But now, why were her parents whispering?
    They had always told the truth about everything—
didn’t they?
    She tiptoed over to the stairs and walked halfway down.
    â€œWe have to do something fast,” her mother was saying. “There are