Alive

The Birthday Children fought the Grownups, and now Em has taken Matilda captive. She is forcing Matilda to reveal the location of the shuttle, the only way to escape the Xolotl. In this, the second-to-last episode of this serialized Audiobook, Em and her friends find out if there is a way to escape, or if they will be trapped here forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last episode, Em discovered her true purpose in life — to be a receptacle for a much older version of herself, a 1,000-year-old monster that created Em to be overwitten. Em refuses to be a victim, and she refuses to be erased. In this episode, she must rally the Birthday Children to face this horrifying reality, and prepare to fight back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a quest to find a weapon that can defeat the monsters who took Bello, Em has led her friends to a place that Bishop and Gaston discovered earlier — the place where Bishop found the spear. Those three, along with Aramovsky and El Saffani, opened a strange door in the floor and are descending down a long ladder, into the darkness, into the unknown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Somehow, the Birthday Children have wound up exactly where they started. In front of Em, a mystery — the coffin room she and her friends woke up in, the same room they walked away from. How can they be back? And is there any chance for escape? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Birthday Children have reached the Garden, but at such a cost. In this episode, the tension between Em and Aramovsky comes to a head. Is Aramovsky looking out for the spiritual well-being of the group, or is trying to discredit Em as leader and push her out? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Em and the others were shocked to run into a pig. Desperate for food, the kids made the instant decision to kill the pig, but it escaped, biting Latu in the shoulder and badly wounding her as it did. Against Em’s orders, Bishop ran after the pig, leaving Em no choice but to follow him. They tracked the wounded animal’s to a room with something the kids have never seen before — plants, a dense wall of brambly thicket. The pig’s blood trail leads through a shallow tunnel gnawed through that thicket, so that’s where Bishop and Em will go, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Em and her friends met Bishop and his crew. A brief, peaceful struggle for control of the Birthday Children left Em with the spear, a symbol of power. She now leads 23 other people through the halls, looking for a way out. They are also looking for food, and, more importantly, water. If they don’t find sustenance soon, Em knows her people will die. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yong grew tired of wandering through hallways, finding nothing, and he challenged Em’s leadership. He attacked Spingate, then rushed at Em — and when he did, Em’s knife slid deep into his belly. In this episode, we learn of Yong’s fate: will he survive, or will he become just another pile of dust-covered bones? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Em and Spingate have escaped their coffins, and managed to open two more — one holds the sleeping K. O’Malley, while the other contains the dead body of B. Brewer. Eight more coffins remain unopened. In this episode, Em and Spingate find out how many coffins contain potential friends and allies, and how many contain shriveled corpses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

M. Savage woke to a nightmare — trapped in a coffin, alone, unable to remember anything about her past. She fought her way free only to find herself in a room full of coffins. One of those coffins contained another girl, trapped just like her. In this episode, the blood-streaked pair try to make some sense of their situation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices