"Dustan, you have a plan, don't you?" Travis whispered.
"No." I shook my head as the workers led the four of us down a small corridor. "I don't have a plan." I could see the disappointment on his face but I didn't care anymore. None of it mattered. I had come here to save them, only to fail.
"Here we are." the man smirked, opening a door. I followed him into the room, Brandon, Molly and Travis right behind me.
"Ah, my nephew has arrived." Uncle Darius grinned. Gavin and Lukaria were standing next to him. Gavin remained silent, staring at the floor so he didn't have to meet my eyes.
"Are you alright, Riley?" I called across the room. Two workers were holding on to Riley's arm roughly.
"I'm fine." she replied.
"Tell me Dustan, what exactly is it you thought you would accomplish by coming here?" Uncle Darius raised his eyebrows at me. "You have given your friends hope of escape, and that was never going to happen. I knew your every move before you even knew what you were going to do. Once we had your friends captured, I knew that you would go to the gyptians. I knew you would travel north, to find Iorek Burnison, the armored bear." Riley tried mouthing something to me but I just shrugged. "I knew that Iorek Burnison would take you to Lyra Belacqua. Last of all, I knew you would come here, to Bolvanger. You are weak, predictable. Honestly, if you two didn't look alike I would say that you and Gavin weren't related!" he scoffed.
"You set me up. Just like you set up Riley, Brandon, Molly and Travis. You gave me that piece of paper knowing that I would try to rescue them. I feel so stupid." I hissed at Gavin. "I actually thought that maybe you still cared, that you weren't heartless. Clearly I was wrong." I spat. Gavin took a deep breath, before he lifted his head and looked me in the eye. His eyes were filled with guilt and sadness. Maybe be isn't so heartless. I shook my head. Gavin was always good at acting. He fooled me once, I'm not going to let him fool me again.
"I hope you aren't waiting for anyone." Uncle Darius sneered. He snapped his fingers and a curtain fell. I gasped when I saw what was behind there. They had Iorek Burnison trapped behind steel bars.
"We were prepared this time. We weren't going to be beaten again." One of the workers snickered.
"Iorek!" I called.
"I'm sorry, Dustan. I have failed you. They have taken away my armor." Iorek said, shaking his head sadly.
"If they have you, then that must mean,"
"Yes." Uncle Darrius snickered. "We have your mother."
"Mother? We were told that our mother was dead." Gavin frowned.
"That's what we were told, Gavin. But they weren't our real parents. Our real mother and father are still alive." I told him. I sort of lied to him on that last one, I wasn't even sure if our father was alive.
"Is this true?" Gavin asked Uncle Darius.
"Yes." he shrugged.
"Where is she?" he asked. "Our mother? Can I see her?" he asked.
"Your mother is our prisoner. She shut down our project once, we won't let her do it again." one of the workers hissed.
"I've never met my mother. I want to meet her now." Gavin growled. "I'm ruler." he added. "You have to do as I say."
"You can meet her later." Uncle Darius sighed. "Right now, we have other matters to deal with." he said, nodding towards me and the others.
"Which one should go first?" the head worker asked.
"Gavin, why don't you decide?" Uncle Darrius said.
"No one is to start anything." Gavin scoffed. "I want to see my mother, right away. I haven't met her all my life, I won't wait any longer. Bring her out." he demanded.
"Do as the boy says. The faster we get this over with, the sooner we can start." our uncle told the workers. They arrived moments later with our mother.
"Gavin. Dustan." she breathed. Pantalaimon was in her arms.
"If you are our mother, then why is our father?" Gavin asked.
"You father is waiting for the three of us. I supposed to bring you both to him. " she replied. Our father is still alive.
