Shane slapped his shoulder as he passed. “Give her space,” he said. “It’s been a hard couple of days. Where’s Myrnin?”

“He never showed at the rendezvous,” Michael said. “I wasn’t really worried about him. More about you.”

“Yeah, about that—we kind of had to make a deal with Morley. You know, Graveyard Guy?”

“What kind of deal?”

“The kind where we don’t want to pay up,” Shane said. “Ask Claire.”

She shook her head, walking on. “Ask Shane,” she said. “I’m not done yet.”

“What?” Shane grabbed her wrist, pulling her to a stop. His face was tense and pale. “You can’t be serious. Not done with what? We’ve got the videos, the cameras, Kim. What else?”

“Myrnin,” she said. “He didn’t show up at the rendezvous.”

“And? Dude’s crazy, in case you didn’t notice recently. He probably went off to chase butterflies or something”

“He’d have been there. Something happened to him.” Claire knew already, knew it all the way down to her bones. “Ada did something. She sent us to Morley, thinking he’d kill us. She’d go after Myrnin, too. I have to find him.”

“Not by yourself.”

“No,” Michael agreed.

“Ditto,” Eve said, and picked up a fresh weapons bag from the closet to sling over her shoulder. “Definitely not by yourself.”

Claire looked at each of them in turn, saving Shane for last. “You’re sure. Because it’s going to be dangerous.”

“You’re going after Ada, right?” Eve put stakes in her pockets, then tossed a crossbow to Shane, who caught it in midair. “You’re going to need backup. Especially if she’s got Myrnin. Besides, if we just sit here and wait, she can get us anytime she wants.”

“We should take the car,” Claire said, heading toward the closet to get her own weapons stash. “It’s not safe now going through the portals anymore. . . .”

A black hole formed in the wall next to her, and Claire felt the storm of force rip through the house. The portal wavered as the house itself fought back, trying to heal the rift, but whatever was tearing the entrance held firm. Ada.

Claire didn’t have time to run.

Ada’s blue-white hands came out of the darkness, grabbed Claire by the shirt, and dragged her into the portal.

It snapped shut on the shocked, angry faces of her friends.

She heard Shane scream her name.

So, Ada really could touch things. Claire kind of wished she’d taken that idea more seriously.

Claire woke up lying on cold, damp stone, feeling damp little feet skittering over her arm—rats, probably. She hoped it wasn’t roaches. She’d just die if it was roaches.

She was in the dark—utter, velvety darkness that pressed in on her like smothering cloth. When she moved, she heard the scrape of her shoes echo off into the distance.