I lick my lips. “Any advice?” I ask, striving for a light tone. Desperate as I am, she’s my only point of contact and I’ll take any help I can get—even if it’s from the devil herself. I sense she appreciates that I’ve asked her.

She leans close, and she smells of jasmine and expensive makeup. “Don’t speak unless ordered. Don’t lie. Don’t look away. Don’t let us down.”

She looks into my eyes, deep and searching, as if she knows all my sins. After a moment, she leans back. I don’t know what she found. With a twirl of turquoise silk, she is gone.

I’ve never been more confused. My head hurts, and I’m still dizzy. There must be something in the fog in that room downstairs. I should be tempted to throw myself out that window, climb down, jump the impossibly high fence, and make a break for freedom. How would Tila feel, if it was still her walking down this hallway to this Test? If she’d never come across Vuk, if he’d never ended up dead, then she’d be here, right now, and I’d never know. My head feels unattached to my body, like it’s floating down this darkened hallway.

I turn to the left as instructed, and push open the door.

I’m the last person to arrive. In the room are four chairs. The other three are occupied. One is a girl with bright crimson hair down to her waist, dressed in black trousers and a glittering top. A man with a tuft of blond hair and black eyeliner wearing a red suit, with a tattoo of a tarantula on the back of his hand, sits in the middle. The man next to him has dark green hair and is dressed in black leather. It goes without saying that they’re all beautiful.

I sit in the last chair, crossing my legs to stop them from shaking.

The room is completely blank. White walls, white chairs, white floors. I open my mouth, but then I remember what Malka said. Don’t speak. My mouth snaps shut. I grind my teeth together. The drug from downstairs might be wearing off. I’m petrified.

There’s a flash in the corner of my vision, a small beep in my ear. I have a message. Judging by the way the others grow still, they’ve received it, too. The white wall in front of me seems to undulate in waves. I can feel the little electrodes buzzing against my skin.

“You are here because you have done well. You have served and done all I’ve asked of you.” The voice is disguised—it echoes, distorting strangely in my mind. “You have made it to a level that few can claim to reach.”