She’d thought it would be easy to get back home, and it should have been. But Nadia hadn’t been paying attention when she dashed away from Verlaine, had taken a wrong turn, and now was in a totally unfamiliar area. Not surprising, given that almost all of Captive’s Sound besides her house, the high school, and the grocery store were unfamiliar at this point. But she’d thought it was too tiny to even get lost in. Apparently not.

Okay, she told herself. No big deal. This whole town would fit in Lincoln Park. Walk long enough and you’ll see a place you recognize.

Of course, in Chicago she could have hopped on a bus, or hailed a cab....

Never mind. If worse came to worst, she could call her dad to pick her up, but that would only make him feel like he had to worry about her. Dad had enough to deal with. She was supposed to be taking care of him and Cole, not the other way around.

So she wandered through the streets of Captive’s Sound, the first time she’d ever explored it on foot.

And as she went, she realized more and more … something wasn’t right. The weirdness she’d sensed here didn’t begin with the magical barrier or end with whatever was beneath the chem lab. No, the entire town was—sick.

The grass had a yellow cast, and lay limply upon the ground. Every tree seemed to be on the verge of death, with straggly branches and chipped, grayish bark. The sky was darker than it should have been in midafternoon, though maybe that was because it looked likely to rain anytime now. Signs of disrepair were everywhere: The pavement was cracked, the curbs overgrown with straggly weeds. The dank mood seemed to have affected the residents, too; only a handful of houses appeared to have been painted in the last twenty years. Most of the homes, however apparently large or elegant, were chipped and faded. Nobody cared about how it looked. Nobody cared about Captive’s Sound.

Nadia remembered the magical barrier at the edge of town. She looked again at the battered, depressed town that surrounded her.

From the crash, she’d known something powerful was in this town. But what if that powerful force was … draining Captive’s Sound? Dragging it down?

In her mind flashed the image of the ground caving in beneath Verlaine’s car, and she shuddered.

A motorcycle’s engine growled along behind her, slowed as it drew closer, and then came to a stop beside her. Nadia’s eyes widened as the driver removed his helmet and she saw Mateo.

“Hey,” he said. “You look—lost, I guess.”

“That obvious, huh?”

Given everything she was attempting to deal with, it should have taken more than a hot guy to make her smile. Yet Nadia knew she’d started smiling.

Mateo didn’t appear to be equally thrilled to see her; in fact, he couldn’t quite meet her eyes, like he was trying to avoid Nadia’s gaze. But he’d stopped for her, hadn’t he? “Okay, tell me where you live. I could—I can give you a ride. And then you’ll know how to get back home after that.”