“But she was holding the container of exotic matter,” Zora was saying. “And her hair turned white. All of us got white streaks in our hair after we fell through the anil without a vessel. But your hair isn’t white.”

White hair.

They were talking about her, Dorothy realized. She closed her mouth, no longer sure whether she wanted to make her presence known. Not before she heard what they had to say.

“It’s not?” Ash was frowning, trying to pull his hair far enough away from his scalp to see it.

Zora said, “Nope, dirt blond, as usual.”

“Hey!”

Zora barely seemed to hear him. “Okay, say you did travel back in time,” she was saying. “Somehow. How did you end up in the exact time that Dorothy and Roman went back to?”

Dorothy thought back, attempting to work through the timeline in her head. She and Roman had just gone back to get medical supplies. Ash had followed them, surprising them all by showing up in the past, the first time he’d traveled without an anil. It seemed that he’d only just returned.

Ash, sighing, said, “I don’t know.”

Something moved through the trees, drawing Dorothy’s attention. She narrowed her eyes, but now the shape was still. Listening, she thought she could hear a motor, low and rumbling. The fog was heavy enough that she couldn’t see the boat, though.

She glanced back at Zora and Ash. They were still talking, and they didn’t seem to have noticed anything amiss. It would be dangerous for someone to overhear this conversation. She opened her mouth to warn them—

Ash lifted his hand. “We shouldn’t be talking about this out here.”

Dorothy’s heartbeat sped up. She looked back at the trees and could see, instantly, that he was too late. The shape was moving again, a boat separating from the shadows, drawing up alongside the dock.

And now, finally, Ash and Zora seemed to notice that they weren’t alone. Ash reached for his gun, but, at that same moment, a shape leaped out of the boat and grabbed him, wrenching his arm behind his back. His gun slipped from his fingers, clattering as it hit the dock. Useless.

Dorothy felt every muscle in her body draw tight. This was how Mac must’ve captured Ash and gotten him back to the hotel, she realized, this ambush.

She reached into her cloak, fingers brushing against Roman’s dagger. Every muscle in her body wanted to race forward and help them, but she knew how this ended. Ash would be captured. Zora would be fine. If she showed herself now, she could be hurt or captured herself. And that would help no one.

“Easy now,” came Eliza’s cool voice. She knelt to pick Ash’s gun up off the dock and pointed it at his temple.

Dorothy’s hand was clenched so tightly around her dagger that her fingers ached.