They all froze, listening carefully. Alex’s hair rose on the back of his neck. They had been caught! The silence stretched ominously before another noise was heard.

“…went down here, it’s most logical.” Whispered a voice.

“Are you sure? It’s kind of dusty—no wait, I see footprints. You’re a genius, Sapphire!”

They all breathed a sigh of relief. It was Turquoise and Sapphire, hopefully with the rest of the group. Alex was practically tap dancing. He hadn’t killed his friends after all!

“Alex?” Turquoise’s voice reached his ears. Stealth was not her strong suit, and that was probably the softest she could be.

“Here,” he whispered, hoping it would carry.

After a few minutes, Andy, Carrion, Turquoise, Sapphire, Pathtalon, Tanzanite, and Erinite emerged from the tunnel.

“You guys made it!” Jade said, running towards them. Alex followed in his wake, dreading the response he would get from his friends.

It was Turquoise who saw him first. “Alex…we know you didn’t poison us on purpose. We forgive you. Next time, though…”

Alex grinned. “Next time, don’t ask me to cook for you. It’s not my strong suit.”

Turquoise laughed, and Alex felt a wave of gratitude towards his sister. Even the dark looks he got from Andy and Sapphire could not dampen his spirits. As long as he had Turquoise, Alex would be okay.

“Alright,” Jade said, gathering everyone into a huddle. “This will be a lot easier with more people and dragons on our side. We should—”

A scuffling sound from the hallway made him go silent. The friends glanced at each other with unease. Was something coming their way?

“Hide!” Turquoise hissed, being the first to act. Tanzanite and Erinite gathered Sapphire and Turquoise under their wings and camouflaged to fit the background. CloudWing pushed Jade behind him and turned invisible. Pathtalon, Roewyn, and Carrion plastered themselves to the wall.

Alex was once again left unhidden, and had nowhere to go. The scuffling sounds grew louder, and he ran back and forth uncertainly. Pathtalon gestured for Alex to roll behind him, but it was too late.

A girl appeared in the hallway that led deeper into the building. He could only see the outline of her, but Alex was sure it was a girl.

Alex stood in the center of the seemingly empty room, not knowing what to do. “Um…er…”

The girl tilted her head. “Who are you?”

Alex was sure he would get caught, and their entire plan would go downhill. “Um…me? I’m just…you’re friendly, um, fellow human! Nothing suspicious going on at all…”

“Hmm,” the girl mused. Then, to his surprise, she turned around and gestured for Alex to follow. “Come on.”

Shooting an uncertain glance at his friends, Alex jogged up to the girl’s side. “How do you see in this light?” he asked.

The girl chuckled. “You get used to it after a few years.”

Alex tried to process the meaning of her words. Years?

He could only hope that his friends were following him down the dark corridor, because he could not turn back and look. He doubted that he could see them even if he tried.

The tunnel broadened once more into a small, square, well-lit room. Several people were rushing back and forth from doing tasks silently. When one faced Alex, he inhaled sharply. He was wearing a white mask, like a sad, drama-stage mask. Alex could not see his face at all.

When he turned to the girl who led him there for information, he found that she was wearing a mask just like it. This one was slightly more gruesome, as the mouth was pulled back so it looked like she was wailing in agony.

“Wha-what—” Alex began, stuttering. The mask was startling and unsettling.

“Here,” the girl said briskly, shoving a mask and a cloak upon Alex. “Put these on.”

“But…why?” Alex asked, confused.

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“We can’t show our faces here,” the girl said, grabbing his arm and leading him across the room while he put his mask and cloak on. “The Dragons say so.”

“The Dragons?”

The girl stopped in her tracks.

“Look,” she said, pulling Alex aside. It was slightly creepy, with her mask boring into him. “I know you snuck in here, and I know why. I’m trying to help. I can’t explain everything right now.”

“You’re all enslaved,” Alex guessed, and the girl stiffened. “By the dragons?”

Silence met his words. The entire room had stopped their activities and was staring at Alex. He was glad he was wearing the mask so they couldn’t see his expression. All those masks staring at him made him shiver.

“This boy has come to rescue the Prisoner,” the girl announced to the room. With a start, Alex realized that they were all children. The youngest was probably five, the oldest thirteen—not counting the girl who led them here, who was probably around fourteen. He felt a spark of fury at the StealthDragons in that short moment.

There was a collective gasp around the room as the children took in the girl’s words.

“The Prisoner?” one of them asked. “But she be an enemy of the Dragons!”

“I think she’s nice,” one of the younger girls with an angry expression on her mask said defensively. “She say-ed ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when I bring food, unlike someone.” She elbowed a child next to her who was about her height, with an identical mask. Alex guessed he was her brother. Alex noticed the weird way they all talked. Was that because they had never had proper schooling?

“I-I-I don’ wanna make the Dragons angry,” said a very small boy quietly, who was about up to Alex’s waist and stirring the soup in one of the cauldrons using a stool and a very large wooden spoon. His mask had an worried emotion on it, though it was hard to tell--it was bunched up like he was wrinkling his forehead.

“Screw dem Dragons!” One of the boys said with bravado. He stood on top of a wooden crate. Based on his height, Alex guessed he was about eleven. He had a mask with an evil smile on it. “They’m not the boss of us!”

“Gavin, get down!” one of the boys with a skeptical face on his mask hissed. “Get back to yer chores, you flower pickin’ lazy bum!”

“I agree with Gavin,” the girl leading Alex interrupted as the children’s voices continued to rise. “We should defy anything the Dragons tell us to do. We are not their puppets.”

There was a pause before one of the young boys raised his hand like he was in a schoolroom. “Wha doos dee-flyin’ mean?”

The girl sighed. “Defying, Reggie. It means to not listen to a command.”

“But tha’s bad!” Reggie exclaimed.

“No, not when we’re defying the Dragons,” the girl said, sounding exasperated. “I’m going to bring this guy to the Prisoner and help him escape, then I’ll come back.” She hurried off down the other tunnel before the children could say another word, dragging Alex with her. He could see the masked faces of the children watching him as he went, and even though he could not see their eyes, he could feel them on his back. He turned back to the girl.

“Thanks,” he told her. “You really are going to help me?”

“Of course,” she said breezily. “It’s about time we defied the Silver Ones. I am against everything that they do. Can you tell me why you want to rescue the Prisoner?”

She led him down another corridor, and Alex explained everything to her. She listened intently, occasionally asking questions. When he finished, the girl stayed silent for a long time.

“Your friends can come out now,” the girl said. All of Alex’s friends appeared out of the gloom, staring at the girl. They introduced themselves as they walked, and the girl nodded at each of them. She stayed a fair distance away from the dragons, though.

Finally, the girl halted them in front of an archway with no door.

Alex was sure they had reached the dungeons. Rows of empty cells stretched down the torchlight hallway.

“Why are they all empty?” Turquoise said. The entire place felt unsettling and still, like nothing should disturb the empty silence, but Turquoise didn’t seem affected.

The girl shook her head grimly. “You don’t want to know. Trust me.”

They started down the prison, their footsteps echoing loudly.

“Hello?” a voice called. Alex recognized it as Pyrite’s .

“Pyrite!” Jade cried, running to the end of the corridor, Alex and the others on his heels. There was a cell on the end that held one occupant. Jade took out his sword and busted the lock.

“Jade!” Pyrite cried joyously. She looked thinner than Alex remembered. Her bones were slightly more pronounced, and her hair looked more tangled. Her eyes seemed slightly hollow, although upon seeing all of them they lit up slightly, especially upon seeing Sapphire and Turquoise. “You found me! I thought you were dead! Um, who are the new people?”

Alex glanced at himself and realized that he was still wearing the mask and the cloak. He took them off and grinned at Pyrite as her eyes widened. “Alex?”

“There’s a lot of explaining to do,” the girl butted in, back to her brisk manner. “You can do that later. Right now—”

Suddenly, there was a roar from the end of the hallway. Alex didn’t speak dragon, but he could get the gist of it; probably something like “there they are!” or “get them!” StealthDragons filled the exit to the hallway.

“Run!” The girl shouted.

They sprinted down the opposite end, but more StealthDragons filed in, weapons at the ready.

“Get behind us!” Pathtalon yelled. He and Roewyn spread their wings and bared their teeth. Their spines rose with a crckckckckckkckcckckck sound that sent chills up Alex’s spine.

Alex didn’t remember what happened next. All he knew was spines flying everywhere, roars of outrage, and terrified yells. Then claws gripped his shoulder firmly and he was being lifted into the air.

They soared out of the structure and out of the mountain hollow, landing on a ledge outside. It was dark now, and the moonlight made the girl’s mask seem to glow.

“I have to help my people, now that I know how to escape,” the girl said. She turned to go.

“Wait,” called Alex. He put a hand on her arm. “I never got your name.”

The girl hesitated. “Alice,” she said.

“You know, you don’t have to wear that mask anymore,” Alex said. “You’re free.” Before she could protest, he took the mask off and smiled at her. She had dark brown hair and pale skin, with a small nose and dark brown eyes. She was frighteningly scrawny, but had a defiant expression on her face.

“Thank you, Alex,” Alice said, and then she ran into the tunnel they had emerged from.