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spies everywhere. The whole thing is going to unravel.”
    â€œTrident has a plan. We need to stick with that plan,” her father answered. “It will cover the whole thing up, so the other regions won’t know the truth.”
    â€œWe shouldn’t have to get caught up in this. We are scientists,” her mom responded.
    Her father walked over to her mother and took her hand.
    â€œLisa, we are responsible for this experiment. We convinced Trident to orchestrate the kidnapping of all of those children from Earth so we could see if they would thrive here,” he said softly. “We didn’t tell anyone in the capital city of Nomad—we didn’t inform any of the other regions. If we are caught, we could get in a lot of trouble. Now, we have to cover it up.”
    â€œBut a war?” her mother whispered back.
    â€œIf we had been able to finish our work, we could have saved our planet from eventual extinction,” her dad answered. “But it was interrupted too soon. Now we have to act like it never happened.”
    â€œOkay,” she replied. “But Nina must never know that she’s from Earth, too.”
    Nina stumbled back a step when she heard that last line.
    Tears welled in her eyes. She was from Earth, too?
    She didn’t understand anything they were saying, but she knew she had to get out of there.
    Nina crept down the rest of the stairs, slipped over to the kitchen, and snuck out the back door. Then she ran, and ran, and ran.
    She had no clue where she was going. She just wanted to get away. All those years, she had never felt particularly close to her parents. They were always working. Over the years, she had tried to impress them with good grades and her loyalty. But they always seemed distant and unemotional.
    Now she knew why—they were not her real parents!
    She was some sort of experiment gone wrong.
    Nina found herself running in the woods. She had no idea where she was. Then she saw it—Rusty’s cabin. She must have been running a long time, so she plopped down on a nearby log, cradled her head in her hands, and sobbed.
    â€œNina?”
    A familiar voice called from behind.
    â€œNina, is that you?”
    She slowly lifted her head and turned to see who was saying her name.
    â€œTim!” she cried as she ran over to him and hugged him.
    Tim’s arms remained at his side. Nina had betrayed him—had betrayed them all. As much as he wanted to hug her back, he couldn’t.
    â€œWhere have you been? I’ve been so worried about you! Are the others with you?”
    Then Tim remembered that Mr. Kull had wiped her memory of that day at the cabin when he learned she had been lying to them all along.
    He removed her arms from around his neck.
    â€œNina, I know you lied to us. You knew we were from Earth. You knew we had been kidnapped. But you never said a word.”
    She took a step back and her eyes filled with fresh tears.
    â€œI never wanted to lie to you. My parents told me . . . well turns out they’re not my parents . . . they lied to me. Tim, I’m from Earth, too.”
    He stood staring at her for a moment—in shock. How many more secrets were there?
    Tim couldn’t stand to see her in so much pain. She was a victim, too, only doing what her parents—her kidnappers—had told her to do all these years.
    He stepped forward and swept Nina into his arms, holding her tight.
    â€œNina, we have a lot to talk about, but right now, we need to get to the tunnel and find Mr. Kull. I think he’s the only one who can help us now.”

Chapter 11
The Story Gets Twisted
    Rusty was handcuffed to a chair.
    All he could do was sit and watch the man with black hair pace back and forth in front of him. He knew the man well but not by the name he was now using—Trident.
    Rusty knew him as the highest official in Briny Deep—the man in charge of everything here. He was the top man, also called the