Peyton stood at the mouth of the dig site, straining to see anything. The mission wasn't even a mission anymore. General Stone was a liar. And now, Max was either dead, hurt, or lost inside a cavernous gash on the surface of a planet she'd come to despise. Lilly circled above her like a vulture. You can't make this shit up, she thought. No one back home would suspect Red Rock of being a corrupt organization hell-bent on colonizing Mars, despite a million reasons not to.

  She'd never been to the dig site at night, its jagged terrain slightly illuminated by moonlight. An hour ago, she'd been headed to bed, but then Lilly had shown up, her eyes desperate and wet. Why did the kids insist on breaking every rule Stone gave them?

  "Max is in trouble. Come with me. There's no time to explain," she'd said.

  Lilly's swollen cheeks completely changed her trajectory, and now here she stood, another crisis looming.

  "He just jumped. He didn't say anything before he did it. I have no clue what he was thinking," Lilly said.

  Max was the last person Peyton would ever expect to jump blindly into a hole. He was naturally cautious. It had taken Presley begging Max to race, and typically beating his times to get him even to use the super speed they'd both inherited since coming to Mars. Their racing escapades were the entire reason for the curfew.

  Over the past eleven months, all the kids had developed superpowers. Some were more problematic than others. Sloan could see the future, which might prove helpful if she could be trusted. Luckily, Peyton had been in proximity during her last "vision" and saw everything Sloan professed to see, thanks to her own telepathic abilities. Mary Jane could move things with her mind, which hadn't made Trevor feel any better about his telekinesis. Alex and Edward had been blessed with superhuman strength. Edward was handling it well after the grave mishap with Camden. But Alex had unfortunately become even more of a liability. Camden was telepathic, but pretty bad at it, and Kai could fly but refused, which left Mia, who'd developed the most extraordinary super power of them all-healing. She'd actually stumbled upon it accidentally. And thank God, because without it, Mary Jane might be walking around with one less finger. Her very first healing had happened at the digsite.

  "Mia, my hand, "Mary Jane had gasped, holding a bloody stump where her finger used to be.

  "Oh my God, "Mia said, pulling Mary Jane to the ground, lines of red sliding down her space suit.

  The finger had been perfectly severed, and Mia lifted it like a coin she'd found lying on the ground. She'd examined the appendage and placed it back in position as if her task were simple and routine. And then the blood disappeared, and Mary Jane was able to flex her finger as if she'd imagined the whole thing. It had taken the girls three days to tell anyone about what had happened and five more for the story to reach Peyton. While it reduced the risk of anyone dying on Mars, the thought of humans wielding such power was unsettling. But right now, Max was lost in a hole, and Mia wasn't here to save him.

  “Did you hear him hit the bottom?" Peyton called up.

  Lilly paused in flight and lowered herself until she stood beside Peyton, her eyes skeptical, as if Peyton might try to throw her in the hole as well.

  “I didn't hear anything. I yelled down to him for maybe ten minutes. Then, I went to find you. It's not good, is it?”

  “I'm not sure. It's not good that he's not responding to us, but I don't know what it means.”

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  "Did you tell anyone else Max is missing?" asked Lilly.

  "No. We left immediately,” Peyton replied, annoyed by the question.

  Lilly stared at Peyton, distrust oozing from her pores. This was how they all looked at her now. No matter how often she explained that she knew nothing about Red Rock's ulterior motives before landing on Mars.

  "One of us has to go down and get him,” Peyton said.

  “I'll fly down and land. We can make a plan based on what I see.”

  "You would have already done that if you thought it was safe," Peyton said.

  Lilly arched her eyebrows and turned away from Peyton.

  “I don't blame you. I'm glad you didn't. We don't know how deep the hole is, and losing you won't help Max.”

  Lilly sighed, keeping her back to Peyton, who was uncertain of what to do next. The rovers should be stocked with supplies. Would rope be one of those supplies?

  "Lilly, go check the rovers for rope. I'll check this one.”

  "Rope for what?”

  “Rope to lower me down with," Peyton said.

  Peyton directed her attention to the rover she'd driven to the dig site. Rows of lights activated as she lifted the driver's side door. A red box hung on the wall behind a row of seats. It reminded Peyton of the case that held a fire blanket inside her science classroom back on Earth. She'd chosen this life. Meanwhile, a long-term sub occupied her classroom for 6.5 hours a day, teaching —her old job, no more deadly than baby kittens.

  The box opened easily, and inside, she found flashlights, a utility knife, duct tape, a tube of liquid bandaid, athletic tape, a tourniquet, gloves, and one lone rope. Peyton grabbed the rope, shaking it out to gauge its length. The rope was maybe ten feet long.

  “Lilly, there's rope in the red boxes behind the seats."

  Lilly, having already found rope, heard Ms. Lawrence and rolled her eyes.

  "There you are," Peyton said, dragging the single rope behind her as she walked. "Did you find anything?”

  “Five others just like that one, "Lilly said.

  "Wow, that's great. Do you know how to tie a slip knot?”

  “They showed us once at Space Camp."

  “Same. I wish I'd paid more attention, "Peyton said, picking up the rope to practice.

  The next twenty minutes were spent making a long rope and experimenting with slip knots and regular knots until Peyton felt comfortable with a knot that would hopefully keep her alive long enough to either reach or visually locate Max.

  "What will you do if you find him dead?”

  Peyton looked at Lilly, shocked. What would she do? She wouldn't let herself go there mentally. She was in charge. If Max were dead, it was her fault.

  "He's not dead," Peyton said.

  "They won't let us tell the others if he is dead, and you and I will be locked up until it's time to go home. They don't care about any of us. You know that, right?”

  “Let's just find him, Lilly. That's what we should focus on. I'm going to attach the rope to this rover. I need you to lower me. Can you do that? You'll need gloves. I saw gloves in the red boxes.”

  Lilly looked unsure but rallied, shaking her head in agreement.

  "Yeah, I can do it," she said, and went to find gloves while Peyton attached the end of the rope to the metal rings on her spacesuit.

  “We're about to find out if these suits are as durable as they say, "Peyton said, patting the rope wrapped around her waist several times before helping Lilly attach the other end to a rover.

  “I'm going down now. If you lose control of the rope, let go and fly back to the hub for help. Do not try to save me. Do you understand?”

  “Don't try to save you. Got it, "Lilly said, smiling. "Sloan owes us an explanation for not envisioning this shit.”

  Peyton laughed and stepped backward, gingerly, and down into the hole. Lilly's whole body shook against Peyton's weight as she watched her teacher disappear. But she couldn't hold the rope, and Peyton's body dropped wildly out of control. Lilly watched the rope uncurl furiously and disappear into the hole. She snatched at it, tearing fingers out of her gloves, which caused her to scream. But there was no way to control the rope. In seconds, it broke free of the rover, their plan failing miserably.

  Lilly started to run, pushing her body up through the air until she was flying, and then she dove down to save Ms. Lawrence, who'd gone eerily silent for someone aware they were about to die.

  “I'm coming, "Lilly gasped as she plummeted into darkness, her breath ragged, her arms grasping for Peyton's body. And then Max had them both, one under each of his arms, running up the side of the hole so fast that Peyton nearly blacked out.

  “Told you speed is better than flying," Max said as the three of them lay dazed and panting on the rim of the dig site.