"What were you doing?" Seth asked.
"Having a meeting," Grandma said. "Where is she?"
"At the door to the dungeon," Seth said. "She's banging on it and calling for you guys." The three adults charged past Seth. Grandma held a crossbow. Tanu scrabbled in a pouch for potions. "Where is everybody else?"
"Dale went to the stables to check on the animals," Tanu said. "Maddox went into the dungeon to help Coulter search for the hidden chamber in the Hall of Dread."
Tanu took a detour to his room to grab a flashlight and handcuffs. Seth trailed after his grandparents as they descended the stairs to the entry hall, and then down to the basement. Tanu caught up as they arrived at the bottom of the stairs.
Grandpa approached the door to the dungeon. "What are you doing out of the Quiet Box?" he called through it.
"Open the door, Stan," Vanessa answered. "We need to talk."
"How do I know every prisoner in the dungeon isn't at your side, ready to storm past us?"
"Because I called you," Vanessa replied. "If this were a trap, I would have used surprise to my advantage."
"You have to do better than that," Grandma said. "Where is Coulter?"
"In the Quiet Box."
Grandpa and Grandma shared a concerned glance.
"What about Maddox?" Tanu asked.
"He's the problem," Vanessa said. "Look, I have a key,
Stan. I'm contacting you this way only to reduce the shock and avoid a fight. I'm on your side."
A key rattled in the lock and the door opened. Vanessa stood alone beyond the doorway, holding a flashlight. A dark corridor lined with cell doors extended behind her. Even wearing one of Grandma's housecoats, she was strikingly attractive with her long black hair, dark eyes, and smooth olive complexion. "Maddox released me," she said. "He wanted me to help him subdue the rest of you and access a secret room beyond the Hall of Dread."
"What?" Grandpa cried.
"He's not really Maddox, Stan," Vanessa said. "I put him to sleep with a bite. Come with me."
The three adults followed the narcoblix down the dreary corridor. Seth brought up the rear, relieved that nobody had forbidden him from tagging along.
"What do you mean it wasn't Maddox?" Grandma asked. "Who was it?"
"A stingbulb," Vanessa said.
"There are no more stingbulbs," Tanu protested. "They've been extinct for centuries."
Vanessa glanced back at him. "The Sphinx has access to stingbulbs. I knew that even before this phony version of Maddox confirmed it."
"He confessed?" Grandma asked.
"He assumed I was on his side," Vanessa said. "He was enlisting my help."
The corridor ended, branching left or right. Vanessa turned right.
"The Quiet Box is the other way," Grandpa pointed out.
"Maddox is this way," Vanessa said. "I extracted as much information as I could before incapacitating him outside the Hall of Dread."
"Does this mean the real Maddox is dead?" Tanu asked.
"He was alive when they made the copy," Vanessa said. "Stingbulbs can only replicate the living. But Maddox was in bad shape, as was reflected in the copy. The stingbulb maintained that Maddox was alive the last he saw."
"What exactly is a stingbulb?" Seth asked.
"A species of magical fruit that can extract a sample of living tissue and then grow into an imitation of that organism," Vanessa explained. "The copy is almost exact, even duplicating most memories."
Seth furrowed his brow. "So they could impersonate somebody pretty good. But they might be a little off."
"Right," Vanessa said.
"What if that explains what happened to Kendra?" Seth gushed. "Maybe she was replaced by a stingbulb!"
Grandpa stopped walking, and the others paused along with him. He slowly turned to face Seth, two fingertips resting on his lips, his expression unreadable. "That could be," he murmured. "That fits really well."
"She could still be alive," Grandma gasped.
Seth made a choked little sob as he tried to fight back the tears of hope and relief that sprang unbidden to his eyes.
"What happened to Kendra?" Vanessa inquired.
"We thought she was dead," Grandpa said. "We caught her trying to leak secrets to the Society, and when Warren confronted her about it, she poisoned herself. Our best guess was that she was under the influence of some kind of mind control."
"You're right," Vanessa said. "Sounds like a stingbulb. The Sphinx would be in no hurry to harm Kendra. He knows how valuable she could be. Come."
They started walking again, and turned a corner.
"What do we do?" Seth asked.
"We'll get this info to Trask," Grandpa said. "Vanessa, if the Sphinx sent the stingbulb to free you, why tell us?"
"The Sphinx only sought to free me once I regained strategic value," she said coldly. "He didn't think the stingbulb could access the hidden room unaided, so suddenly Vanessa Santoro deserved to be rescued. I should have secured that loyalty long ago. For years, I functioned as one of his top operatives, risking my neck time and again, succeeding in mission after mission. He discarded me at the first moment I might have become an inconvenience. The stingbulb had an entire speech memorized, explaining how my incarceration was always planned to be temporary, a tactical necessity. In his pride, the Sphinx thinks I'll come whimpering back at the first opportunity. He is in for a surprise. I no longer trust his character and, by extension, I no longer believe in his mission. I won't rest until I take him down."
Up ahead, the flashlights illuminated a form sprawled on the floor of the hallway. The group jogged forward, staring down at Maddox.
"Can you revive him?" Grandma asked.
Vanessa crouched over Maddox, her hands probing his head. He flinched, crying out. She stepped back and he sat up, blinking into the flashlight beams. His eyes flicked to Vanessa, his expression guarded.
"What is this?" he asked, rubbing his head. "Stan? What happened?"
"We have reason to believe you're not Maddox," Grandpa said.
Maddox chuckled incredulously. "Not Maddox? You're kidding. Who am I, then?"
"A stingbulb," Grandma said.
Maddox glanced at Vanessa. "Is that what she told you? Stan, don't be so hasty to trust a liar like her. Coulter thought it might be smart to consult Vanessa about what happened to Kendra. You know, see if she knew anybody in the Society who lives in Monmouth. We thought we could handle her together, but she shot out of the Quiet Box like a tornado and overpowered us. That's all I remember."