But the dreams had never come. No alien forest for me, perfect trees beneath an unseeable sky; no comforting embrace of impossible flowers with their rippling, rattling petals. If I’d dreamed at all, I didn’t remember it, and as the shower blasted away the last of the night’s cobwebs, I had to wonder why not. The forest wasn’t always there, but when I needed it …

When I needed it, it came. It had come on the plane, and—

“Stasia?” Graham sounded groggy. I had claimed first shower, and we’d agreed to take turns, not wanting to get distracted with biological needs when we had so much to get done today. “Honey, your phone’s blowing up. Are you sure you told work that you were going to be gone for a few days?”

“What?” I turned the water off, having long since rinsed the last of the shampoo out of my hair, and pulled the shower curtain aside. Graham was standing there in his boxer shorts, the scars that ran beneath his pectoral muscles flushing red in the heat.

“Your phone,” he said. “It’s on the bed. Someone’s been texting you for the last ten minutes.”

It wasn’t even nine in the morning yet. That made it not quite six in Washington: if either Lucas or Mandy was texting me, the house was probably on fire. Mom wouldn’t text, she’d call, and the odds were good that she wouldn’t do either. That left a remarkably short list of people who had my number and had some reason to contact me. Not good.

“Huh,” I said, and stepped out of the shower.

Graham grinned as he watched me grab my towel and roughly dry off. “See, if this were a different kind of trip, this is where I’d say I was lying to get you out into the open.”

“If this were a different kind of trip, you would have been in the shower with me.” I kissed his cheek, wrinkled my nose, and added, “Shave,” before leaving the bathroom. His laughter chased me out.

My phone was on the bed, as he had told me it would be, and it was buzzing near-constantly as it lit up with incoming messages. I sat down, frowning at the number on the screen. It wasn’t one I knew. I swiped my thumb across the glass, and felt my stomach plummet toward my feet, even as my lungs seemed to forget what they were supposed to do with the air they already held. Taking in more was unthinkable.

I know you’re there, read the latest text.

Above it: come on don’t be like this do you know how hard it is to find us?????