It wasn’t even really crying at first; it was some kind of chest-heaving, head-thumping pressure in her body that needed to be released. She felt Harriet’s arm across her shoulder, supporting her as her knees buckled and finally the hot tears came.

They were for herself, alone in a game being played by people a lot more powerful than her, with rules she hadn’t been allowed to learn.

But they were also for Ethan.

‘Thea?’ Harriet’s voice seemed very far away. ‘Thea?’

She felt Harriet half-pushing, half-leading her into another room and forcing her to sit down.

‘Breathe.’

So she did. And that was all she did for a while. It was all she could concentrate on, because, when she stopped, other thoughts came rushing back at her and clogged her throat.

Harriet busied herself to one side. Thea realized she was sitting on a bed, in a room similar to her own back in the other sphere, but messier, as if the person in it had rushed to leave.

‘Here.’ Harriet pushed a warm mug into her hands, holding her own over them to warm Thea up. ‘Everything has happened so quickly. I’m not surprised you’re in shock. The … problems … the fire. The new people taking over. At least you’re okay.’

‘Ethan is dead.’

Harriet fumbled the teaspoon and it clattered noisily. Saying those words nearly set Thea off again, but she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and sat up straight like her mother would have done, her eyes gritty and sore.

‘Kyle did it; he killed him. I was there.’

‘But how—’

‘We found Moses at the lighthouse. The real Moses, not the one we saw here. He tested the sleep tech on himself and it made him hallucinate. It made him mad – for a while. It killed Ted, kind of, pretty much anyway—’

‘Who’s Ted?’

‘The tech, Harriet!’ Thea gripped one of Harriet’s wrists. ‘The tech is dangerous!’

‘We know it caused some issues,’ Harriet soothed, gently wriggling her wrist out of Thea’s grasp. She nudged the tea to her lips, making her take a drink. ‘But that was only briefly. And then of course, the fire. We think one of the clients started it, in their … incapacitated state. But we’ve been told that all of the clients have now been safely evacuated from the island.’

Thea tried to read Harriet’s expression: wide-eyed but steady. Would she be able to tell if she was lying?

‘No! It’s not just the hallucinations! It’s what happened after. It just kind of mushes your brain, leaves you a blank. I’ve seen it! And do you know why they’re so keen to get this sleep technology working?’

‘Really, I—’

‘Dreams! They want to get into our dreams – the REM sleep, remember? – and they want to … to … use them, to influence us—’