Rachel parks the cart and opens the bin where I’m hiding. There are two more carts just like hers right next to it. She helps me climb out, but stops me before opening the back door. “Can you make sure no one’s out there? You can do that, can’t you? Feel the presence of nearby minds?”

I send my talent searching just beyond the door and into the forest surrounding it.

“Only the nighttime animals.”

“Perfect.”

We sneak out, closing the door carefully behind us, then hurry into the woods. One of the obsidian artifacts is hung around my neck, and the rest are safely tucked away in my bag. Rachel borrowed an obsidian ring she found in the library to keep herself safe too.

I retrace my steps from the night before, the path burned into my brain after the stress of my flight home. It isn’t long before we reach the cave, and my heart takes a seat in my throat.

This time, I’m better prepared. This time, I know so much more. I just don’t know how I’m going to balance what Maeve is with what she’s become to me. Perhaps if I tell her the truth, she will stop her plan. But it also might make her more desperate to get our other family members back. And she’d definitely come after me to keep me with her. At least, that’s what Rachel believes, and I can’t deny it makes sense.

We’re both desperate to regain what was stolen from us. We just had no idea it was each other.

The cave entrance comes into view. A slit in the mountainside, half-hidden by hanging vines. I can feel Maeve inside the cave, along with the faint trace of a few other minds endlessly calling for help. My old friends, stolen again to be used against anyone who stands in her way. For a moment, I even catch a hint of Jemma and Ida’s minds before they’re shoved too far down for my talent to reach.

Maeve must be stopped. Even if she is my mother.

I can make out a few of the words in Maeve’s mind, but none of them are useful. Her mind is so structured and orderly that she’s able to conceal things from me. She probably learned how to keep her private thoughts to herself raising me. I thought it odd before, but now it makes perfect sense.

“She’s definitely in there, along with Jemma and Ida, and so are the others with mind-based talents I told you about. Under her control, they’re dangerous. But usually they’re my friends.” I frown. I’ve never been at odds with them before, particularly Sebastian. Just the thought is foreign and strange, almost like saying my own arm could be used against me. Unthinkable.

Rachel puts a comforting hand on my back. “We’ll get Sebastian safely away, and then we’ll see what we can do about your other friends.”

“Yes, Sebastian first.” It’s my fault he was captured. I need to fix this.