Her words ripped open a maelstrom of emotion. I should have gotten everyone out more quickly. I should have found a way to escape with them, to heal them all myself. ‹You’re with them? How?›

‹ I hacked into the security feed from the Gateway room. I pieced together where they’d gone and got the hell out of there.›

‹If you figured out where they went—›

‹Relax. It took me three hours to figure out who you were talking to on the other side of that portal. Your friend isn’t listed as Jason in any official records, which makes him much harder to identify, especially after someone fried that part of the video. Now that they’ve got you, I don’t think they’re as worried about the rest of us.›

‹Thank you. What did they do to me? Where the hell am I?›

‹Easy, Isaac. If you get too worked up, your readings will spike, and I’ll have to pull out and try again later.›

The thought terrified me, though I wasn’t sure why. ‹I remember the fight in my lab, and then you calling my name. There’s nothing in between.›

‹You were sleeping. Nothing to worry about.›

‹Don’t lie to me. I don’t remember falling asleep or waking up. I wasn’t dreaming. It’s like I didn’t exist until you started talking to me.›

The pause stretched out for what felt like several minutes, but I had no objective way to measure the time. Finally, Talulah said, ‹You existed, but you were on standby. Like a computer in sleep mode.›

The terror grew. ‹You’re holding back. I can feel it. Talulah, what happened to me?›

‹As far as I can tell, they brought you to the server room and hooked you into the network. Direct neural linkup, probably similar to what Kiyoko wore on her scalp. It lets her get into your brain, copy and sort through your memories, and so on.›

‹Why?› There were far easier ways to read someone’s mind.

‹Reading your mind is the easy part.›

Obviously, since Talulah seemed to know my thoughts whether I tried to “speak” them or not.

‹They want to know how your brain works,› she explained. ‹How you’re able to do the kind of magic you do.›

They thought they could do that by plugging me into a damn computer? ‹Wait, how much have they pulled from my memories?›

‹Everything.›

‹Then they know about Jason. They know where—›

‹They know you sent Lena and your family to the library. They don’t know where everyone went when they left the library. Like I said, I don’t think they care about the rest of us anymore. We’re safe. I’ve spent the past two days poking around, trying to activate your consciousness without tripping any alarms.›

Two days. I hoped someone was taking good care of my body. ‹How did you get in?›