I rested my hand on Cage’s and took in my surroundings. We stood in a dimly lit desert, but I didn’t get the sense that it was night. Instead the sun itself seemed dull. Its reddish tinge reminded me of my night on Mars, even though the sand looked more like Earth. Memories flooded me, summers spent with my cousins at their beach house before we’d started moving all over the planet. This had the same white, soft quality, and it was almost comforting.

In most directions, an endless sea of sand rose and fell in wavelike dunes. Toward the sun, though, buildings shadowed against the light. It looked like a city, but something—the angles of the buildings, maybe, or the way it leaned into the horizon—didn’t fit. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong, but I got a distinct feeling we weren’t on Earth.

As far away as we can get, I’d told my power.

And . . . it looked like it had obliged.

“We’re on another planet,” I whispered, almost to myself. The others stared at me, their expressions glassy, and I realized that my revelation trailed theirs. “That’s impossible. Isn’t it?”

Reed laughed shortly. “Kenz, I’m not sure the word ‘impossible’ is in my vocabulary anymore. Aliens, shifting powers, livable planets we’ve never heard of. Sure. Why not?” He laughed again, but without humor, his fists clamped at his sides and his arms ramrod straight.

I shook my head, my senses returning, and as they did, I took in something I’d missed before. Cage, and Rune, and Imani, and Reed . . . “Where’s everyone else?” I demanded.

Reed and Imani stared at their feet. Cage and Rune met my eyes, their faces hesitantly sympathetic, and that was somehow worse. “Where are they?” I repeated hoarsely. I stumbled a few feet toward the city, spinning frantically in place, searching for them in the vast open desert. “Cage, where are they?”

“We don’t know,” he replied, very gently, taking me in his arms and running his hands over my shoulders. “We landed here, the five of us.”

I yanked free, stumbling and landing in the sand. Puffs of dust flew around me. “Are you telling me I somehow lost everyone else?”

“We don’t know that. They might be nearby . . .”

“Nearby where?” I gestured frantically. “They’re nowhere, Cage! Either I left them behind, or I lost them along the way.”

“We don’t know that,” he insisted sharply, but I shook my head, dropping my face to my hands.

A moment later, Rune crouched beside me. “Kenz,” she said softly. “I don’t think that happened. You know why? Because you’re you. You would have fought tooth and nail to hold on to all of us, whether you were aware of it or not.”

“She’s right,” said Reed unexpectedly. He flashed me a quick smile. “You saved us on Sanctuary. You got us off the ship. And now you want me to believe you accidentally lost your friends on something as minor as a magical journey through space? Nah.”