“Where do all the groceries come from?” Eleanor asked. “How is there even still power?”

“Eden Eld is perfect,” Ben said with a stretched-out, plastered-on grin. “The stores are always stocked. The lights never go out. No one gets sick and no one leaves.” He laughed horribly, a sound that choked off into a sob. Eleanor fought back a wave of fear. Why was this happening?

She was very, very afraid that the answer was because of me.

“What about my family?” Otto asked. “Are they missing?”

“What about my dad?” Pip added.

Ben ran a hand over his head. “Pip, your dad disappeared with the others. So did Lily.”

Otto moaned. Lily was one of his three younger sisters—triplets.

“We’ll get them back,” Eleanor told him fiercely.

“My poor parents,” Otto said, his eyes distant. “Losing me and Lily at the same time. And Gina and May—they must be so scared.”

Eleanor pulled him close to her, squeezing him tight. Otto’s first thought was how scared and sad his family was. He was always thinking about other people. But he wouldn’t always. The hedgewitch Story would steal that, too.

“Should we call them? Do the phones work?” Pip asked.

“They work,” Ben said. “That’s how I knew you were in town. Mr. Clarkson called to warn me. We can give your family a call and let them know you’re okay, Otto.”

Otto, sniffling, pulled himself away from Eleanor. “No. I’m glad they’re safe, but we shouldn’t tell them I’m back. If Mr. January gets us or the Story . . . if I . . .” He slumped. “If they have to lose me, it’s better if they only lose me once, right?”

Eleanor took his hand. Her heart ached for him—and for his parents, and his sisters, too young to even begin to understand what was happening.

There was a scrape from the hallway. The locks on the front door were opening, one by one. Pip leaped up with alarm, but Ben gave them a calming wave of his hand.

“That’s just Barry,” he said.

“Who’s Barry?” Eleanor asked.

“My roommate. This is technically his house,” Ben said. There was the sound of the door opening and clomping footsteps coming into the hall, and Ben called out, “In the kitchen. We’ve got visitors.”

Eleanor was so tired and her brain was so full that she heard Barry and his house and couldn’t make sense of it at all. And so when Bartimaeus Ashford, one of the thirteen founders of Eden Eld, stepped into the room, all she could do was stare blankly.

He stared right back. “This is unexpected,” he said.