“But we didn’t know that two of us or all of us in this room might already be dead,” she says. “Willow told me what happened to the guy in your group. The same thing happened to me… to my group. Two other girls were with me. They blew a door open together while I tried to read the riddle on the floor.” She swallows. “They’re dead. There’s no way they’re not dead. I mean, the magic swallowed them up, but there was so much blood. I was holding their hands—”

“Wait.” I cut her off, because I can’t hear it. I can’t listen to her describe what it’s like to hold someone’s hand in those final moments. I’m already way too close to falling headfirst into the past. “It was an illusion. They’re probably fine. Maybe they got knocked out, and the magic showed us what it wanted us to see.”

“But there’s still blood on my dress. Illusions disappear.”

“Not in here.” I wave a hand around my room. “This place is one giant illusion. This place is magic. There are no rules for what’s possible or not. And even if it was real, we know that the magic can heal, too. Maybe it healed Barry and the others after they got sucked into the floor.”

The three of us contemplate that possibility for a silent moment. Then…

“Tell her,” Willow says to Nadine. “We can trust her.”

“I’m not sure I can trust you,” Nadine says. “We just met.”

“Well, you already told me everything anyway,” Willow says.

Nadine scowls like she really, really regrets that.

“She has that effect on people,” I mutter.

Willow smiles. “I’m good at getting secrets, but I’m also good at keeping them.”

Nadine sighs and looks at me for a long moment. Then she glances at my door and steps farther away from it, like she’s worried about someone overhearing. She drops her voice low. “I’m not here for the competition. I’m here to find my missing friend.”

“Missing?” I ask.